Improving customer service through better customer contact

Prepared for the Accounts Commission

Improving customer service through better customer contact

May 2005

The Accounts CommissionThe Accounts Commission is a statutory, independent body which,through the audit process, assists local authorities in Scotland to achievethe highest standards of financial stewardship and the economic,efficient and effective use of their resources. The Commission has fourmain responsibilities:

• securing the external audit, including the audit of Best Value andCommunity Planning

• following-up issues of concern identified through the audit, to ensuresatisfactory resolutions

• carrying out national performance studies to improve economy,efficiency and effectiveness in local government

• issuing an annual direction to local authorities which sets out therange of performance information they are required to publish.

The Commission secures the audit of 32 councils and 35 joint boards(including police and fire services). Local authorities spend over £13 billion of public funds a year.

Audit Scotland is a statutory body set up in April 2000under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act2000. It provides services to the Auditor General forScotland and the Accounts Commission. Together theyensure that the Scottish Executive and public sector bodiesin Scotland are held to account for the proper, efficient andeffective use of public funds.

Contents1

Part 1. Introduction – Why andhow we examined customerservicePage 2

Councils should provide informationand services to customerseconomically, efficiently andeffectivelyPage 3

Good customer service is an integralpart of Best ValuePage 3

Examples of good customer serviceinitiativesPage 3

This report examines how councilsare improving the responsiveness oftheir customer servicePage 8

Part 2. Evidence of customersatisfactionCustomer satisfaction is important inthe public sectorPage 10

Councils’ research shows a widerange of customer satisfaction levelsPage 10

Councils should improve how they research customers’ opinionson servicePage 12

Councils should obtain and usecustomer opinion researchPage 14

Mystery customer researchPage 15

Councils should make better use offeedback from customersPage 18

Summary and recommendationsPage 19

Part 3. Improving access toservices through better customercontactCouncils should make it easy forcustomers to access their servicesPage 20

Councils answer tens of millions ofcustomer enquiries every yearPage 20

Most customers contact their councilby telephone and most enquiriesshould be easy to answerPage 22

Better information about howcustomers contact councils will helpimprove servicesPage 24

Providing a dedicated first point ofcontact should help councils improvecustomer servicePage 24

Councils can improveresponsiveness by extending theiropening hoursPage 27

Technology can help to improvecustomer servicePage 27

Call centres and first-stop shops donot guarantee improved servicesPage 31


Part 4. Leadership andorganisation of customer serviceCouncils’ customer service plans areat different stages of developmentPage 33

Councils are still developing plans toimprove customer servicePage 36

Councils should actively plan toreview and improve customerservicePage 38

Councils should consider settingmeasurable targets for customerservicePage 39

Technology does not appear toprovide significant savingsPage 43


Appendix 1List of exhibitsPage 46

This report focuses on the effectiveness of customer contactand interaction, and... how this contributes to providing betterservice to customers.

2

Part 1. Introduction – Why and how weexamined customer service

3Part 1. Introduction

Councils should provide

information and services to

customers economically, efficiently

and effectively

1.1 Councils provide an enormousrange of services and information totheir customers (Exhibit 1 overleaf).

1.2 Councils providing services tocustomers should do so efficiently, inaccordance with proper standards andprovide outcomes that meetcustomers’ legitimate needs. Thatmeans councils consistently givinggood information and effective service.

1.3 The UK government White PaperModernising Government (1999)outlined a programme ofimprovement and reform to publicservices and reinforced the need forcouncils to provide good customerservice. It committed the UKgovernment to public services thatwere responsive “to meet the needsof citizens, not the convenience ofservice providers” (Exhibit 2, overleaf).

1.4 In Scotland, the Scottish Executiveincluded customer focus and “puttingthe citizen at the centre” in itsstrategic vision for modernisinggovernment, 21st CenturyGovernment (Exhibit 3, page 5).

Good customer service is an

integral part of Best Value

1.5 The Scottish Executive’sguidance on Best Value in Scotland

1

expects councils to demonstrate:

• responsiveness to the needs of communities, citizens,customers, employees and otherstakeholders so that plans,priorities and actions are informedby an understanding of those needs

• effective performancemeasurement systems, which include the use of external comparison, throughwhich performance issues can be identified, monitored and addressed.

1.6 The duty of Best Value and therelated guidance will steer councils’efforts towards continuousperformance improvement. Councilshave been developing Best Value ona voluntary basis since 1997 and theduty of Best Value was incorporatedin legislation in 2003, and guidanceissued in 2004. Councils havetherefore had a short time to addressaspects of the new duty.

1.7 Audit Scotland’s Best Valueaudits, which commenced in July2004, hold councils to account forhow they exercise the duty of BestValue and seek to support andencourage real improvement inservices locally. The audits aim toidentify and promote good practiceso that experience can be shared andrisks minimised.

2

1.8 Good customer service is anintegral and important part of Best Value:

• The objective of Best Value is to ensure that effectivemanagement delivers better andmore responsive public services.

• Councils provide an enormousrange of services to people ascustomers.

• When asked, customers oftensay they think that councilsshould improve the way theydeliver service and the quality ofthe outcomes achieved.

1.9 Part 2 of this report discusses themost recent evidence on customersatisfaction with council services.Perceptions may change over time,but research prepared in 1999 for theCommission for Local Governmentand the Scottish Parliament onperceptions of local government inScotland highlighted that researchparticipants, in general, had a poorimage of both local authorities andcouncillors and did not feelempowered to effect change.Standards of service were perceivedto be deteriorating. Participantsthought that there was a lack ofaccountability in the event of poorservice because paying taxes wascompulsory.

3

Examples of good customer

service initiatives

1.10 Exhibit 4 (page 5) summarisesthe most important types of changescouncils consider they haveintroduced since 2000 to improvecustomer contacts and services. It shows that most councils haveintroduced changes to improve theirperformance. Exhibit 5 (page 6) givesexamples of some of the mostcommon, higher-cost projects tosupport customer contacts andservices – contact centres and first-stop shops.

4

1.11 There is no central estimate ofthe overall costs of customer serviceactivity by Scottish councils and mostcouncils do not record the cost ofthis activity separately. In AuditScotland’s research, three councilsestimated the overall costs ofcustomer service activity could bearound 0.5% of their general revenueexpenditure. If this is representativeof all councils, the total cost wouldbe some £40 million a year nationally.

1 The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003: Best Value guidance, Scottish Executive, April 2004.2 More information on the audit of Best Value can be obtained from Audit Scotland’s website: www.audit-scotland.gov.uk3 Perceptions of local government – a report of focus group research prepared for the Scottish Office Central Research Unit, June 1999. 4 Two terms, ‘first-stop shop’ and ‘one-stop shop’, are commonly used to describe offices open to the public, which are provided mainly to help customers

get council services and information about services easily. In most cases, staff in these shops seek to resolve customer queries at the initial contact but some issues need to be referred to a specific service area/expert. For simplicity, in this report we refer to such facilities as first-stop shops.

Exhibit 2Modernising Government – key customer service commitments

4

Exhibit 1Examples of council service to customers

Typical council services

• Landlord services for council tenants, for example, housing repairs.

• Council tax enquiries and administration.• Benefits enquiries and administration.• Community services – for example, special uplifts.• Social work services, for example, homecare

services or benefits advice.• Development control, for example, planning

applications and enquiries.• Leisure services, for example, public libraries and

sport centres.

Customer service

• Providing information about service.• Accepting bookings for service.• Providing service.• Accepting payment for service.• Accepting payment for council tax.• Accepting information about services, for example,

street light failure, litter, road defects.• Handling comments and complaints.• Maintaining records, for example, change of

address details.

Source: Modernising Government White Paper Cm4310, March 1999

Responsive public services: we will deliver public services to meet the needs of citizens, not the convenienceof service providers. We will:

• deliver a big push on obstacles to joined-up working, through local partnerships, first-stop shops, and other means

• involve and meet the needs of all different groups in society.

Quality public services: we will deliver efficient, high quality public services and will not tolerate mediocrity. We will:

• review all central and local government department services and activities over the next five years to identifythe best supplier in each case

• set new targets for all public bodies, focusing on real improvements in the quality and effectiveness of publicservices

• monitor performance closely so that we strike the right balance between intervening where services are failingand giving successful organisations the freedom to manage.

Information age government: we will use new technology to meet the needs of citizens and business, and nottrail behind technological developments. We will:

• develop an IT strategy for Government which will establish cross-government co-ordination machinery andframeworks on such issues as use of digital signatures and smart cards, websites and call centres

• benchmark progress against targets for electronic services.

Source: Audit Scotland

Part 1. Introduction

Exhibit 4Key customer contact and service initiatives by councils

5

Source: Scottish Executive, 2000

Exhibit 3Scottish Executive – 21st Century Government

The 21st Century Government vision envisages a Scotland where the delivery of public services and publicinformation is characterised by citizen focus, a choice of means of access, convenience, effectiveness andcontinuous improvement where:

• public service and information delivery is driven by the needs of citizens and by a commitment to acustomer service culture and to measurable improvement in accessibility and quality for all

• the aim is to give the consumer a positive outcome at first point of contact • there is a choice of ways to access services and information whether by self service or assisted means • ease of use is a key objective in designing delivery channels • accessibility of all barriers to better service delivery are challenged • data sharing and convergence in technical standards are promoted where that will improve services • best practice is sought after, exchanged and celebrated • gains from joint delivery and joint procurement are exploited • new technology is exploited where it delivers improved services.

Change/initiative Number of councils

citing as important

change/major project

Range of costs for each project

(where known)

Website introduction/development 15 Included as part of ongoing revenue spend

Organisational & structure changes eg, establishment ofcustomer service teams/groups, business improvementinitiatives

14 Annual staff costs of £60,000 to £120,000

Establishing or developing customer contact/ service centres

12 Project costs of £0.2 million to £1.8 million,plus recurring staff costs

Development of customer relationship management(CRM) system

11 Project costs of £0.2 million to £1.9 million

Establishing or developing first-stop shops 8 Project costs of £40,000 to £1.3 million

Review/development of complaint scheme/commentsprocedure

7

Development/review of customer care/contact strategy 7

Consultation with citizens (through surveys, citizens’panels, etc)

6 £25,000 to £45,000 survey costs, excluding own staff costs

Joint-working with other agencies 6

Development of smart cards 3 Project costs of £0.2 million to £2.5 million

Source: Audit Scotland survey of councils, 2003


6

Exhibit 5Contact centres and first-stop shops – examples

• parks enquiries • public relations enquiries • roads and lighting• social work enquiries (including ‘blue badge’).

Glasgow Access Centre – new contact centre

Glasgow Access Centre was launched in 2001 to provide a single point of electronic and telephone access forcustomers to council services by 2005.

In 2003, there were 68 access centre staff, mainly customer service advisers. In 2003, the centre responded tosome 300,000 customer enquiries by telephone (excluding switchboard calls).

The centre aims to provide consistent, high quality service with more enquiries resolved first time. The council isbringing services into the access centre in phases. Phase one was to relieve pressure on service departments forthe resolution of general enquiries, thus freeing up subject matter experts to deal with the more complexenquiries. Phase one included:

• corporate switchboard• cleansing (uplifts, etc)• clean Glasgow (graffiti, pest control, etc)• council tax enquiries• internal directory enquiries service

North Lanarkshire Direct – new network of first-stop shops and customer contact centre

North Lanarkshire Direct is the council’s main strategy for improving access to services since 1999. Thechanges in how the council is organised to respond to customer enquiries have cost some £2 million (including£0.8 million from the Scottish Executive’s Modernising Government Fund (MGF)).

Ten first-stop shops located throughout North Lanarkshire were opened between 2000 and 2002. They receiveapproximately 205,000 enquiries from visitors a year and offer varying degrees of access to service. Primarilythey give information, but services that can be accessed directly include:

• reporting roads, footpath and lighting defects• request maintenance/repairs to a council house• advice on applications for housing benefits

The council first surveyed its first-stop shop customers in 2002 and 2003. A total of 18,032 survey forms wereissued, covering all ten shops, with 3,180 (18%) being returned. Key findings included that 84% of respondentsconsidered overall service provided had improved as a result of the introduction of the first-stop shops. Analysisof its 2004 survey of 4,000 customers was under way in early 2005.

Northline is the council’s new, telephone based customer contact centre, which opened in March 2003. In itsfirst year the contact centre got approximately 300,000 calls for the following services:

• bookings for community centres, parks, and arts & venues• environmental services, including cleansing, roads and lighting faults, abandoned cars and pest control• general enquiries on all council services• telephone payments for housing rents, council tax, non-domestic rates, community charge and other

accounts.

• apply for help through the Garden Assistance Scheme• cleansing (uplifts) and reporting litter problems• collect and submit application forms for all council services.

Part 1. Introduction

Exhibit 6Modernising Government Fund (MGF) rounds one and two – 2000 and 2002

7

Round 1:In February 2000, the Minister for Finance (with responsibility for 21st Century Government) announced the MGFto Parliament. Its purpose was to support innovation in the public sector; address policy priorities formodernisation; and particularly to support and promote joined-up working.

Applications were open to any public sector body in Scotland either individually, in partnership with other publicsector bodies, or in partnership with the private or voluntary sectors.

In December 2000, Ministers announced a £26 million package of support for 36 projects. The funding to councilscame to some £19 million. The projects covered a wide variety of themes and activities, including:

• Digital Highland – improving telecommunications through the use of broadband, joint IT solutions and sharingresources to meet information needs across the community.

• eCare projects – including the development of standards and protocols across and between agencies tosupport secure joined-up health and social work records.

• Facilitating electronic service delivery – including the improvement of online information systems (eg, websitesand portals), as well as the provision of internet access to local people and communities.

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems – including the fundamental review of business processes.• The introduction of ‘one-stop shops’ and contact centres. • The development of a citizen’s ‘smartcard’.• Developing ‘definitive national addressing’ – to develop the scope for the sharing of geographical data.

Round 2:In June 2002 the Minister for Finance and Public Services announced a £40 million package (around £34 million tocouncils) to facilitate the development of public sector partnerships to deliver the following programmes:

• National Citizen’s Account/Citizen’s smart card programme, incorporating a National Dialogue Youth project, aCustomer Relationship Management project and a smart card project – £19 million.

• National Land and Property Management programme – £7 million.• eCare programme – £6 million. • ScotXed project (linked to eCare and children’s services programme) – £1 million.

Source: Scottish Executive

Source: Scottish Executive

8

Exhibit 7Scottish Executive’s Customer First funding October 2004

• access to information andservices

• measures of customersatisfaction/targets forimprovement

• improvement of businessprocesses

• accountability

• use of change management/change programmes

• partnership working.

1.14 The Minister for Finance andPublic Sector Reform has confirmedthe provision of a funding packagetotalling £35 million to supportCustomer First, which is expected toalso deliver recurring annual savingsof £56 million (Exhibit 7).

This report examines how councils

are improving the responsiveness

of their customer service

1.15 This report focuses on theeffectiveness of customer contactand interaction, and, as far aspossible, how this contributes toproviding better service tocustomers. Audit Scotland aimed toevaluate critically how councils areenabling better access and outcomesfor people across Scotland.

1.16 Good customer service can helpimprove services in many ways by:

• making it easier for customers toget services

• helping to make council servicesmore responsive to customers’needs and preferences

• increasing council serviceefficiency, for example, by makingbetter use of staff time (eg, sothat social workers only seepeople who really need to see asocial worker).

However, there is no agreed basis forapportioning council costs tocustomer service activity; the costsfor councils could be much morethan this simple estimate suggests.

1.12 The Scottish Executiveestablished the MGF in 2000 toprovide funding to councils and otherpublic bodies in Scotland to helpprogress towards the reform and themodernisation of public services. To date the Executive has spent orcommitted some £100 million toMGF-supported projects in three mainfunding rounds. While the broad policyaims for MGF-funded projects havenot changed, the Executive has setspecific priorities within each fundinground. Details of the first two roundsare set out in Exhibit 6 (page 7).

1.13 In October 2004, the ScottishExecutive announced details of thethird round of MGF funding. Thisconsisted of a strategic framework,Customer First, intended to help boththe Executive and local authorities tofocus MGF on a number of corepriorities, including:

A funding package of £35 million will be provided to:

• prioritise support for those local authorities who have made only a limited start on any Customer First activityand to allow the ‘pathfinder’ Customer in Focus partners to further accelerate progress (£13 million)

• link the local property gazetteers to the Assessors portal (£1 million)• prioritise/test feasibility of a wider range of services to young people (adding 18-26 year olds to the current

12-18 scheme) and to extend the offer of the entitlement card to all older people as part of the roll out of anational concessionary fares scheme (£7 million)

• encourage and promote the online – self-service – delivery of the core transactional services (£4 million)• combine all of the data sharing, national citizen’s account, national addressing, authentication, electronic

service delivery into a common programme for a ‘national data sharing infrastructure’ (£10 million)• provide for a programme office and resources to oversee the programme, including programme office

support, business analysis, technical design, project management and administrative support (£1 million).

Part 1. Introduction 9

1.17 Audit Scotland’s researchincluded:

• a national survey of customerservice activity in all 32 Scottishcouncils (undertaken in 2003 andupdated in 2004)

• audit visits to a sample of sevencouncils, to appraise customerservice activity and gain a deeperunderstanding of the issues. AuditScotland selected these councilsto reflect the different stages ofdevelopment and differentinfluences affecting customerservice activity across Scotland

5

• ‘mystery customer’ researchacross the same seven councils,conducted by an independentmarket research company, toobtain objective data onperformance from the customerperspective

• research with three councils, tocollect data to help estimate thevolume, type and complexity ofcustomer contacts, and explorewhether and how such data canassist service development.

6

5 The seven councils Audit Scotland visited were: Aberdeenshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; City of Edinburgh; Glasgow City; North Lanarkshire; Perth & Kinross.

6 Argyll & Bute, City of Edinburgh and Renfrewshire Councils volunteered to participate in this research.

10

Customer satisfaction is important

in the public sector

2.1 Customer service stretches farbeyond simple customer contact.Good customer service is reflected inevery aspect of delivery, from initialcontact to final outcome. Councilstherefore need to know whetherthey are providing a satisfactory levelof service to customers and, if theywish to improve their services,whether there are sources ofdissatisfaction. The obvious way tofind out is to ask customers.

2.2 Providing an unsatisfactoryservice may result in repeat requestsfor the service and/or complaints,both of which cost time and money.Therefore poor service, as well asdissatisfying customers, may beinefficient. Conversely, high customersatisfaction levels may assurecouncils that they are fulfilling theirBest Value responsibilities.

2.3 Information about customersatisfaction is importantparticularly to measure theeffectiveness of customer serviceand target necessaryimprovements.

Councils’ research shows a wide

range of customer satisfaction levels

2.4 Audit Scotland asked councilswhat they do now to measure levelsof customer satisfaction and whetherthey collected data about levels ofcustomer satisfaction, when and inwhat form. Audit Scotland also askedfor copies of relevant reportsevidencing the most recent surveysto establish what evidence there wasof common approaches and goodpractice.

2.5 In response, 29 of the 32 councils(91%) reported they had collecteddata about levels of customersatisfaction since April 2000.

7Exhibit

8 illustrates the range and diversity ofapproaches and results for these 29councils, summarising what measure

of customer satisfaction was available from the most recent survey conducted by each. Some councils have completed many surveys since 2000 and theExhibit summarises only the mostrecently available results.

2.6 Exhibit 8 should be read withcaution. The table is intended toillustrate the significant variation insurvey methods, timing, scope andobjectives (which are discussedbelow). Because of this variation, anycomparison between individualsurvey results cannot be conclusive.While all the survey results areconcerned with some dimension ofcustomer satisfaction, the individualmeasures are not identical. Forexample, it is typical for customersurveys to show significantlydifferent scores for satisfaction withhow a contact is handled comparedto satisfaction with outcome.

8

Without a consistent approach tosurvey design across all councils it isnot possible to make directcomparisons between them.

Part 2. Evidence of customer satisfaction

7 Dumfries & Galloway Council, Moray Council and Orkney Council reported they had not collected any customer satisfaction data since April 2000. 8 One council cited a benchmarking database of responses from 1.7 million survey respondents published in 2003, showing that while 86% were positive

when asked about the helpfulness of staff, only 60% were happy with how quickly their complaints were dealt with.

Part 2. Evidence of customer satisfaction 11

Exhibit 8Council surveys of customer opinions 2000 – 2004

Council Survey scope Survey date Survey method Survey base Measure of customer satisfaction * Per centsatisfied **

Aberdeenshire All services October 2002 Residents’ survey 3,330 Satisfaction with most recentcontact

60%

Argyll & Bute All local publicservices

Spring 2003 Citizens’ panelsurvey

630 Quality of customer service 90-92%

City of Edinburgh All services December 2001 Citizens’ panelsurvey

1,292 Does the council provide goodcustomer service?

59%

Clackmannanshire All services March 2002 Survey 1,044 Quality of customer service 91%

Comhairle nan Eilian Sar

All services July 2003 Customer survey 504 Satisfied with service received 87%

Dundee City All services August 2004 Annual face-to-facesurvey

400 Satisfaction with outcome of contact(office visit & telephone)

62-71%

East Dunbartonshire

All services April 2004 Telephone and face-to-face surveys

700 Satisfaction with overall service 86%

East Renfrewshire

All services February 2004 Citizens’ panelsurvey

601 Satisfaction with services 74%

Falkirk All services 2004 Questionnaire 3,490 Satisfaction with overall service(writing, telephone, in person)

35-71%

Glasgow City

All services Spring 2004 Citizens’ panelsurvey

1,261 Satisfaction with individual services 34-90%

Highland All services June/July 2003 Questionnaire 1,377 Overall satisfaction with services 78%

Inverclyde All services January 2002 Face-to-face survey 600 Satisfaction with contacts 53-68%

North Ayrshire All services Spring 2004 Household survey 5,612 Satisfaction with council services 18-75%

North Lanarkshire All services November 2002 Residents’ survey 2,758 Satisfaction with outcome 74%

Perth & Kinross All services September 2003 Survey of citizens’panel

852 Satisfaction with way enquiry wasdealt with

75%

Renfrewshire All services September 2003 Panel survey ~1,000 Satisfaction with service provided bycouncil

16-82%

Shetland All services Spring 2004 Survey 600 Satisfaction with final outcome ofenquiry

65%

Aberdeen City Contact centre October 2004 Survey of serviceusers

230 Satisfaction with the overall serviceprovided

97%

Angus Selected services January 2001 Citizens’ panelsurvey

Various (196 to 793)

Satisfaction with services (excludes“don’t know” responses)

32-89%

East Ayrshire Individual services Various (seven since2000)

Surveys of serviceusers

Various (49 to 348)

Satisfaction with service 41-96%

East Lothian One contact point November 2002 Consultation withvisitors

198 Overall satisfaction with servicereceived today

95%

Fife Local office service June 2004 Interviews 438 Overall satisfaction with contact withcouncil

95%

Midlothian Selected services 2003 Reception surveys Various (70 to 146)

Satisfaction with visit 91-97%

Scottish Borders Selected offices July 2000 Peoples’ panelsurvey

~1,800 Satisfaction with outcome of contact 64-70%

South Ayrshire 17 priority serviceareas

September 2003 Citizens’ panelsurvey

879 Delivery of service not rated poor orvery poor

52-91%

South Lanarkshire Pilot contact centre February 2004 Survey of serviceusers

250 Customer service rating (combinedexcellent and good)

99%

Stirling Selected services November 2002 Residents’ survey 944 User satisfaction with individualservices

19-87%

WestDunbartonshire

Technical services December 2003 Survey of serviceusers

332 Satisfaction with services 93-100%

West Lothian Housing information& advice

February 2004 Survey of serviceusers

67 Satisfaction with the way the querywas dealt with

91%

Notes: * Some surveys included more than one measure of customer satisfaction; we have selected only one in each case. ** We have cited only satisfaction levels (where known). In addition to satisfaction/dissatisfaction most surveys provided for "Don’t know" or "Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied" responses.


12

Note: The range in each case is the minimum and maximum value for each service taking four years’ results together.

Source: Scottish household survey 1999-2002 and Scottish Executive

Exhibit 9Satisfaction with council services – Scottish household survey findings

2.8 The Scottish Executive’s annualScottish household survey,

9for years

1999 to 2002, provided additionaldata about customer satisfaction withcouncil services. The survey askedrespondents how satisfied they werewith their contacts with councils for11 important services. The surveyhad satisfaction data for all councilsbut the sample bases for someservices and councils were too smallfor the results to be statisticallyrepresentative for individual councils.Instead, the Executive analysed thefindings to show the average level ofsatisfaction for all councils combinedfor each of the sampled services foreach year. Exhibit 9 summarisesthese results for the four-year survey period.

2.9 The Scottish household surveyresults also showed a wide range ofsatisfaction amongst customers ofcouncil services. The highestsatisfaction level recorded for anyservice was 80% but for eight of the11 services at least 30% of

respondents were fairly or verydissatisfied. The survey has notincluded questions on satisfaction since2002, although it is not clear why.

2.10 There is scope for the surveyto reintroduce questions oncustomer satisfaction and for themto be expanded to cover a widerrange of services.

Councils should improve how

they research customers’ opinions

on service

2.11 It is evident from Exhibit 8 (page 11) that councils see surveysas a useful source of information. Butwhere they have collected data aboutcustomer satisfaction there are bigdifferences in approaches and styles.Councils have variously soughtcustomers' views on:

• perceptions of councils’performance overall across all services

For example, the fact that a survey of‘quality of customer service’ for all services in Argyll & Bute in2003 recorded 90-92% satisfactiondoes not necessarily mean thatpeople there are really getting betterservice than people in, say, Dundee,where a survey in 2004 of the‘outcome of contacts’ recorded 62-71% satisfaction.

2.7 However, even though it is notpossible to make direct comparisons,there appears to be a very widerange of customer satisfaction levelsbetween individual councils and, forsome councils, between individualservices. Notwithstanding theanomalies, 17 councils had surveyedusers of all services, with maximumsatisfaction levels ranging between59% and 92%. Although thesevariations could partly be the result ofthe different survey approachesadopted, they do not give assurancethat councils are consistentlyperforming to high standards in theview of their customers.

9 The survey is based on a representative sample of the whole Scottish adult population. For more information, see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/SR/CRU-SocInc/00016002/SHSintro.aspx

ServicePer cent very satisfied/

fairly satisfied

Per cent fairly

dissatisfied/

very dissatisfied

Sample size

(range 1999-2002)

Trading standards/Consumer protection 67-80% 12-25% 89-103

Refuse/bin collection 72-74% 21-23% 1,319-1,474

Planning 61-65% 22-27% 564-632

Street/Road lighting 61-64% 30-33% 439-4478

Council tax 56-62% 30-34% 1,426-1,566

Building control 54-61% 32-39% 560-674

Environmental health 56-60% 32-35% 639-704

Street cleaning/Dog fouling 37-49% 45-53% 226-246

Road repairs/Potholes 33-44% 47-57% 364-436

Winter maintenance eg, gritting 32-41% 50-57% 122-199

Pavements 30-38% 53-61% 150-197


Source: Aberdeenshire Council/COSLA/Accounts Commission

Exhibit 10Good practice on customer consultation and opinion research

The seven councils Audit Scotlandvisited had varying approaches to theuse of surveys. Four of the sevenhad established citizens’ panels, toallow regular canvassing of the publicon local issues. These councils hadconsulted panels on a wide range ofissues, but panel surveys did notalways include the quality ofcustomer service. Only two of theseven councils had a council-widepolicy covering the systematic use ofcustomer satisfaction surveys andissues such as when to conductthem, for which services, how oftenand how to use the results to assessand improve performance.

2.14 However, the City of EdinburghCouncil’s Housing Department doesoperate a customer researchprogramme, comprising two keystrands:

• A core programme of regularsurveys and reviews.

• Other surveys geared towardsthe evaluation of new initiatives.Surveys and reviews conductedin this programme are oftenbrought into the core programme.

2.15 Individual services or externalresearch organisations may undertakeindividual studies. A research andpolicy team within the housingdepartment coordinates theprogramme and evaluates all surveyresults, with the aim of addressingany problems identified. The Councilplans to extend this approach toother parts of the organisation.

2.16 Given that all councils,regardless of size, provide a broadlysimilar range of services, there isscope for improving the consistencyof their approach to researchingcustomer opinion. Some years ago,COSLA developed standard surveyquestions based on those mostfrequently asked by their membersas well as a benchmarking databasedeveloped in conjunction with thesurvey questions to help share goodpractice between councils. Howeverboth have been little used bycouncils. If such a benchmarkingtool is to be worthwhile, it willrequire the support andcommitment of the councils whoare to use it.

• the performance of specifiedindividual services

• experience of specific facilities

• specific methods of servicedelivery (including how easy itwas to access the service andaspects such as theprofessionalism and level ofknowledge of the staff).

2.12 Other methods used bycouncils include: questionnaires toservice users, interviews, focusgroups, and citizens’ panels.Although all these approaches arevalid the range of approaches doesnot foster comparisons betweenservices, councils or over time.

2.13 Conducting customer surveyscyclically can help to demonstratetrends and whether services areimproving over time. But only 12 of29 councils that collected data aboutcustomer satisfaction (Exhibit 8, page11) have done so cyclically. In othercases, the pattern is that surveys ofcustomer opinion are not part of along term plan to track howcustomers’ perceptions may change.

COSLA guidance on consultation

Aberdeenshire Council’s consultation policy (established after creation of the council in 1996) emphasised theneed for the council to consult and engage customers.

Its 1998 guidance to staff on Consulting & Involving Customers & Citizens provides a well-constructed, clear andfull ‘toolkit’ of methods for encouraging customer involvement and participation.

This guidance formed the basis for the national COSLA guidance on consultation published later in 1998 – Focusing on Citizens: a guide to approaches and methods.

Accounts Commission

The Accounts Commission’s 1999 report Can’t get no satisfaction: Using a gap approach to measure servicequality provides additional advice on how councils can use a gap analysis approach to measuring service quality.

14

Councils should obtain and use

customer opinion research

Councils need information about

customers’ expectations and

satisfaction with their services

2.17 With different methods availablefor obtaining information aboutcustomer service satisfaction andexpectations, councils have anopportunity to build on existing goodpractice and experience (Exhibit 10, page 13).

2.18 Satisfaction surveys are not justabout asking customers what theythink of the service at the end of theprocess. Managing theexpectations of customers mayhave a significant effect on theirperceptions of service and,ultimately, overall satisfaction.

• Finding out what customers wantor expect is essential to providinggood service. Customers assessservice by comparing what theywanted or expected with theirperception of what they received.It is harder to satisfy someonewith high expectations thansomeone with low expectations.Councils should considersurvey approaches which takeinto account customerexpectations as well asperceptions of service.

10

• Customers’ expectations maychange over time. For example,an increase in the use of theinternet and email may lead tocustomers expecting quickerresponse times than withtraditional mail. Councils thereforeshould ensure the data they holdis up-to-date.

Councils should clarify what

standards of customer service

they will provide

2.19 Improving satisfaction can bethought of as narrowing the gapbetween the standards of servicecurrently delivered and the standardsof service customers want.

2.20 By defining and publishing whatstandard of service they seek toprovide, councils let customers knowwhat they can expect, and reinforceaccountability.

2.21 Setting standards can helpmanage customers’ expectations,and contribute to reducing the gapbetween expectations and the levelof service delivered. Councils shouldask customers what they want from a service in clearly worded,objective statements of measurement.For example:

• I want to have my housingbenefit application processedaccurately and payments to beginwithin x weeks.

• I want to be seen by the rightmember of staff within x minutesof my arrival at a local office.

2.22 Without clear service standardscustomers do not know what theycan realistically expect and there is aweak basis for accountability. Settingstandards is not easy and councilsshould adopt a systematic approachtaking account of:

• high-volume services affectingmany customers

• high-impact services, where thebenefit for the customer (or thecost for the council of providing theservice) may be comparatively high

• areas where performance isknown to require improvement

• areas where good data tomeasure performance againststandards can be obtainedrelatively easily and cheaply.

2.23 Audit Scotland found only onecouncil, East Renfrewshire, had setand published a comprehensive setof performance standards thatinclude measurable customer servicestandards, although other councilsare developing such standards. Inparticular, one of the seven councilsAudit Scotland visited wasconsidering possible standards aspart of a commitment to continuousimprovement and their response tothe duty of Best Value.

Satisfaction surveys need to be

targeted and well-timed

2.24 Councils should, as far aspossible, target customer satisfactionsurveys at people they know arelikely to be service users, rather thanat a sample of residents, otherwisethe findings are likely to beunrepresentative. Fourteen of the 29 councils that had collected dataabout customer satisfaction(Exhibit 8, page 11) appeared to havetargeted users in this way.

2.25 Because councils provide awide range of services they oftenuse large-scale surveys of residentsor members of citizens’ panels. Thismay help if councils want feedbackfrom potential as well as actualservice users. Also, large-scalesurveys increase the chance ofcapturing the views of users of anyindividual service. However,paradoxically, because somerespondents may not be users ofsome services the resulting

10 Customers form their expectations as a result of a variety of factors. The Commission’s 1999 report Can’t get no satisfaction: Using a gap approach to measure service quality discussed why expectations are important and how councils could design surveys to compare customer perceptions of service against their expectations.


Exhibit 11People like to know how opinion survey results are used

performance of its customer contactcentre. Gathering information on aregular basis allows councils toassess whether activities to improvesatisfaction have been successful.

2.27 Where customers givefeedback to councils, they mightreasonably expect to be told how thecouncil intends to address sources ofdissatisfaction, as experience fromPerth & Kinross Council shows(Exhibit 11).

2.28 Councils should consider notonly how they make use ofinformation from customers toimprove services, but also howthey tell customers about whatthey plan to do, or what they havedone, to improve service or toaddress causes of dissatisfaction.

Mystery customer research

2.29 Mystery customer or mysteryshopper research involves someoneposing as a customer to assess atfirst hand whether an organisation

provides an effective level of service.Because the organisation’s staff donot know who the mystery customeris, their response to an enquiryshould match what a ‘real’ customerwill experience.

2.30 Trained assessors provide anindependent, consistent andsystematic assessment of customerservice quality. Mystery customerresearch is most useful where theservice provided is relatively simple(and it is not difficult to deviserealistic enquiries to form the basis ofthe assessment). It may be lessuseful when assessing complexprocesses because it can be difficultto generate really testing enquiriesabout outcomes.

12For example, a

social work enquiry may require anestablished customer history if it is tobe a realistic test.

2.31 Audit Scotland commissionedan independent market researchconsultancy (George StreetResearch) to conduct mysterycustomer assessments across the

customer satisfaction ratings may notaccurately represent users’ views.

11

Councils’ customer satisfactionsurveys should therefore pursueapproaches which will maximisethe number of actual service userswithin the total sample.

2.26 Timing of customer satisfactioninformation is also important. In AuditScotland’s survey, only five of 17councils have carried out annualsatisfaction surveys covering allservices. Frequently there was noevidence of a planned cycle ofcoverage, though a few councilshave made customer surveys anintegral part of service delivery. Forexample, the Transportation andInfrastructure Department ofAberdeenshire Council issues asurvey form to residents every timeroadworks are completed to helpassess the effect and quality of thework before, during and aftercompletion of the work. Similarly,North Ayrshire Council conductscustomer satisfaction surveysquarterly, to help assess the

11 For example, Aberdeenshire Council residents’ survey 2002 showed that 49% of respondents were satisfied with council housing services, but many of these respondents were not council house residents.

12 Although, as Part 3 shows, our research on customer contacts found that complex enquiries are comparatively rare in Scottish councils.

Perth & Kinross Council’s Viewfinder

Viewfinder is Perth & Kinross Council’s customer consultation process. The Viewfinder panel of 1,000 people is across-section of people representative of the wider population in the Perth & Kinross area. The Council surveys thepanel members three times each year. It communicates the results from the surveys back to panel membersthrough Viewfinder Update, its regular newsletter to panel members.

The following is an extract from Viewfinder Update in September 2002, following the tenth questionnaire issued topanel members.

Importance of receiving information about Viewfinder results and use of findings

The majority of respondents (92%) think that it is important to get information about the results of Viewfinderquestionnaires. 56% of respondents think that it is very important and 36% fairly important to get information aboutViewfinder results.

An even greater proportion (66%) think that it is very important to get information on how the council has usedViewfinder results. Over a quarter (27%) of those people who expressed an opinion think that it is fairly important toget this information.

Source: Perth & Kinross Council

16


Per c

ent o

f res

pons

es Required assistancewas not provided

Required assistancewas provided

Very good response,exceeded expectation

Council 70

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Council 4 Council 2 Council 6 Council 1 Average for all7 councils

Council 3 Council 5

Better outcomes Worse outcomes

Exhibit 12Outcome of mystery shopper research in seven councils

easy it was to contact the council,how quickly the councilresponded, any waiting times and the quality and style ofcommunication with the customer.

2.33 With regard to outcomes, theresearchers mostly got theassistance they sought. Theresearchers’ assessment in this areawas that they received, in 27% ofcases, a very good response,exceeding the mere informationrequirements of the enquiry. Theygot a satisfactory response fulfillingthe requirements of the enquiry in59% of cases. However:

• Overall, in 14% of cases, theassessors considered they had notreceived the required assistance atthe end of the process.

• There was variability within theresults. The researchers gotappreciably better or worseoutcomes in some councils thanin others. The least satisfactoryresult for any one council wasthat the researchers did not

receive the required assistance atthe end in 27% of assessments.

Exhibit 12 summarises the outcomesof the mystery shopping enquiriesacross the seven councils.

2.34 Cases where staff could notanswer an enquiry wereuncommon – in most cases theresearchers got what they askedfor – but in those cases follow-upwas often weak too. Where aninquiry could not be answered theresearchers received fewsuggestions about whether theyshould seek help from anotherorganisation. Researchers consideredit helpful when staff offered to findinformation and forward it later. Butwhere follow-up action or materialwas promised, it often did notmaterialise (in 39% of cases involvingtelephone contact and in 100% ofcases involving face-to-face contact),which represented poor service.

2.35 With regard to how councilshandled each request – responsetimes and the quality and style ofcommunication – the researchers’

seven councils included as studysites for this report. The researchused a sample of scenarios toexamine aspects of service delivery.It included 105 mystery customerassessments across the sevencouncils and involved a mix ofcontacts by telephone, personal visitsand email enquiry. The range ofsubjects covered was selected toinclude a range of different councilservices and included some tests ofoutcomes achieved.

2.32 The research explored two keyaspects of customer service:

• the outcome of the enquiry ineach case and whether theresearcher was able to concludethey had received the informationor assistance they had set out to obtain

• how councils handled eachrequest; this involved asystematic assessment of theway in which the councilresponded to the researcher,including aspects such as how


Exhibit 13How well councils welcome, listen to and communicate with customers

Strengths Areas for improvement

• Staff greeted the customer clearly in 90% of cases.

• Staff friendliness was rated as quite good or verygood in 88% (initial contact) and 89% (final contact) of cases.

• Staff appeared to give their full attention in over 90% of cases, and to sound interested in over 80%of cases.

• Staff created a positive impression that they knewhow to help in 86% of cases.

• ‘Can I help you?’ was used much more frequentlyduring personal visits than telephone calls. Staffanswering telephones should consider using thisintroduction more often to promote bettercommunication with customers.

• Staff at the initial point of contact, gave their names inaround 20% of cases; at the final point of contact in31% of cases (telephone) and 71% (personal visits).

• For the first face-to-face contact eye contact andsmiling were evident in only 60% of cases; for finalface-to-face contacts, eye contact was evident in 79% of cases but smiling in only 18%.

• Organisation name was provided in 43% of initialtelephone contacts; the office or department in 53% of cases.

• Often email contacts were rated lower than othercontacts and lacked the ‘conventional graces’.

• Staff sounded negative or hesitant in around 13% of cases.

• Where there was benchmark information from otherorganisations, the councils generally performed at alower standard. (The benchmark organisations were afinancial services provider with high street offices; andanother public sector call centre provider.)

Source: Audit Scotland/Mystery customer research in seven councils

18

assessments were often positive,although the variability of resultsachieved was a significant issue.Even where double enquiries weremade about the same subject to thesame council, the results showed thecouncil did not achieve a consistentlevel of performance. Muchdepended on the individual membersof staff the researchers contacted.

2.36 In 38% of all enquiries, the rightinitial contact point proved difficult tofind. Councils should ensure contactpoints, and the services availablefrom them, are clear in any publicityor marketing material eg, telephonedirectories and websites.

2.37 For telephone contacts, oncecontact had been made, but where atransfer was required, only 67% ofcalls were transferred correctly thefirst time. Councils could improveinternal ‘signposting’ and guidancefor staff at the initial point ofcontact for customer enquiries.Experience in two of seven councilsAudit Scotland visited is that effectivesystems to help staff direct calls tothe correct customer contact pointwithin the council are difficult todevise and maintain unless someoneis made responsible for ensuring it is up to date.

2.38 Once the assessors reached theperson who resolved the enquiry,telephone calls were answeredquickly. And for personal visits theoverall speed of response was alsooften good, with an average waitingtime of three and a half minutes. Atthe extremes, though, individualwaiting times varied significantly, fromno wait to in excess of 20 minutes.The time taken to respond to emailsalso varied significantly, from six hoursto 12 days. In terms of the quality ofthe contact (manner, etc), key findingsare set out in Exhibit 13 (page 17).

2.39 These findings suggest thatthere is scope to improve the ways inwhich councils treat customers whendealing with enquiries or requests.Improving these factors alone will notnecessarily deliver completesatisfaction. But if councils do nottreat customers well, this cancontribute to customer dissatisfaction.

2.40 Councils should considerimproving training for staff dealingwith customers. Customer care isalready an important feature of stafftraining and development. However,it is not clear that all councils monitorwhether the training has beeneffective. Councils should considerusing methods like mysterycustomer research to reinforcetraining and help to identify whereadditional effort may be needed.

Councils should make better use

of feedback from customers

2.41 Customer complaints canprovide a useful guide to areas ofpoor performance. From our sevencouncil visits and other research,

13

most councils have in place acorporate complaints and/orcomments scheme or principles.However, findings from thosecouncils Audit Scotland visitedsuggested few systematicallymonitor and analyse complaints.

2.42 Many councils have defined twolevels of complaints: those which areresolved at the first point of contact;and those which are subject to someform of escalation or centralisedcontrol. Often staff are asked toresolve complaints at a local levelwherever possible ie, at first point ofcontact. These initially resolvedcomplaints are not generally recordedon any corporate database. Althoughindividual service teams may be

aware of common concerns ortrends, without the means formonitoring there is no guarantee thatthey or managers will receive, and beable to act on, that information.

2.43 Where complaint recordingsystems are operated informationabout complaint data eg, trends etcshould be reported to seniormanagement, to allow any council-wide concerns to beidentified and addressed and othercomparisons to be made. However,amongst the councils Audit Scotlandvisited, only two, Aberdeenshire andEast Renfrewshire, prepared suchreports on a regular basis (Exhibit 14).

2.44 A complaints process shouldserve two purposes. First, it shouldallow for individual customers toraise concerns about the service theyhave received, and to have thoseconcerns addressed. Second, itshould allow services, or the councilas a whole, to identify commonissues which might be addressedthrough changes in working practiceor policy.

2.45 From Audit Scotland’s work inseven councils, there was littleevidence that councilssystematically use feedback fromcomplaints to improve services.This is partly because the complaintsreceived by any council constitute onlya small proportion of the overallnumber of customer contacts.However, complaints warrant furtherinvestigation to establish whetherthey are indicative of a wider problem.

13 Customer and Citizen-Focused Public Service Provision, Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, 2002.


Source: Audit Scotland/councils

Exhibit 14Methods of monitoring complaints

2.47 Our mystery customerresearch in seven councilssuggests that customers often getwhat they are looking for from thecouncil, and concluded that in 86%of cases they got a very good orsatisfactory response, exceeding orsatisfying the requirements of theinquiry. But the results also showedvariability in the responses.

2.48 Councils should thereforeimprove how they researchcustomer satisfaction with servicein the following ways:

• Councils should consider surveyapproaches which measurecustomer expectations as well asperceptions of service.

• Council surveys should maximisethe number of actual serviceusers within the total samplerather than randomly samplingthe local population.

• Council surveys should beconducted regularly, to allow themeasurement of improvementover time.

• COSLA has developed standard‘Frequently Asked Questions’ aswell as a benchmarking databaseto help share good surveypractice, but few councils haveused it. Councils need to use anddevelop this tool in partnershipwith COSLA.

• Councils should tell customersspecifically how they have or willuse information from surveys toimprove services and tacklecauses of dissatisfaction.

Summary and recommendations

2.46 Customer satisfaction isimportant in the public sector, yetthere are big differences in howcouncils collect research data aboutcustomers’ views. Individualcouncils’ survey approaches arevalid but the differences betweenthem do not allow directcomparisons of services orcouncils. There appears to be avery wide range of customersatisfaction levels betweenindividual councils and individualservices. Seventeen councils havesurveyed users of all services, withmaximum satisfaction levelsranging between 59% and 92%.Although these variations couldpartly be the result of the differentsurvey approaches adopted, theydo not give assurance that councilsare consistently performing to highstandards in the view of theircustomers.

Council Council-wide policy

for complaints?

Complaints-monitoring

arrangements

Council-wide reporting

arrangements

Aberdeenshire Yes Departmental Annually to senior management team

East Lothian Yes Departmental None

East Renfrewshire Yes Central Every six months to Council Cabinet

City of Edinburgh Yes Departmental None

Glasgow City No Departmental None

North Lanarkshire Yes Departmental None

Perth and Kinross Yes Departmental Infrequent

3.1 Part 3 is concerned with howcouncils help millions of customersto contact them every year.

Councils should make it easy for

customers to access their services

3.2 Under the ModernisingGovernment approach, councilsshould provide services to customersat times and using methods that areefficient, convenient and meetpeople’s expectations. Theunderlying elements of good practicefor customer contact are thatcouncils should:

• research who their customersare, what services they want andhow and when services shouldbe provided

• provide services through differentchannels (face-to-face, telephone,internet) to meet customers’preferences, within availableresources

• provide services jointly with otherorganisations where customerswould benefit

• provide services outside normaloffice hours where the demandexists

• exploit new technology toimprove service

• take a holistic view of service, andensure underlying (“back office”)systems are capable of supportinggood customer service

• promote equal access to servicesby all customers.

Councils answer tens of millions

of customer enquiries every year

3.3 Audit Scotland’s survey of 32councils asked for information thatcouncils had obtained, if any, oncustomer contacts, including thenumber, type and complexity ofenquiries. The survey found that 17 councils had collected someinformation on current methods of

customer contact and/or customers’preferred methods of contact.However, only two councils couldoffer any data about contactsacross all main departments.

14

3.4 Audit Scotland conductedresearch jointly with three volunteercouncils to understand better whatinformation can be obtained abouthow councils communicate with theircustomers. The research includedwork to estimate total contactvolumes within each council, and toassess the range and complexity ofthe contacts made. To illustrate thedata, Exhibit 15 summarises theoutcome of the research AuditScotland undertook jointly withRenfrewshire Council as part of thestudy to explore how to capture dataon the volume, type and complexityof customer contact.

3.5 Exhibit 16 (page 22), combines thedata about customer contacts fromAudit Scotland’s research with thesecouncils with similar data from twoother councils, provided in response toAudit Scotland’s survey of all councils.

Part 3. Improving access to servicesthrough better customer contact

14 The two councils were South Ayrshire and Stirling. Five other councils offered some information about customer contacts that was restricted to individual departments. Audit Scotland excluded this information as it did not help to estimate total contact volumes.

20

Part 3. Improving access to services through better customer contact 21

Exhibit 15Customer contacts in Renfrewshire Council

Source: Audit Scotland/Renfrewshire Council research

All departments in Renfrewshire Council monitored customer contact for one week in October 2003. During theweek, staff at a large sample of telephone and face-to-face contact points were asked to log all customer contacts(including email). The aim was to collect data on the volume, type and complexity of contacts with customers.

Logging focused on customers seeking information or making some form of enquiry. Although the logging includeda large number of contact points it was not designed to capture very simple transactions eg, people presentingthemselves at the front desk of a swimming-pool to buy an entrance ticket.

37,000 customer contacts were logged in the week as follows:

Based on these results (and allowing for under reporting in some areas), the council may receive 1.4 millioncontacts a year at these contact points (excluding contacts from customers in public libraries, see below).

Because not all contact points were surveyed, Audit Scotland could not make a complete estimate of the total forthe council as a whole. 1.4 million is a rough estimate because seasonal variations in the number of customercontacts may not be reflected in a one-week analysis.

53% of the contacts logged were face-to-face and 45% were telephone calls. Only 1% of contacts were emails(with a further 1% where the means of contact was not recorded). The high proportion of face-to-face contactsreflects the inclusion of local libraries within the Education & Leisure Services sample, where 90% of the recordedcontacts were face-to-face. Excluding all Education & Leisure contacts, total telephone contacts amounted to 70%of all contacts where the method of contact was logged.

Staff classified 76% of contacts they logged as easy, 16% intermediate and only 8% complex. The highestproportion classified as complex was in the Planning & Transport Department, where 55% were complex. Again,this is a rough estimate as feedback from departments after the survey indicates the assessment of complexitydepends on the competencies and experience of the staff involved.

Department Number of contact points Number of contacts in a week

Education & Leisure Services 36 14,500

Corporate Services 59 11,600

Housing & Property 29 3,500

Social Work 23 4,100

Finance & IT 51 1,500

Planning & Transport 7 800

Environment Services 13 700

Chief Executive 5 200

Total 223 36,800

22

Notes: * For Renfrewshire Council the data exclude contacts from customers in public libraries. For City of Edinburgh Council the data exclude contacts from customers in social work centres. ** Mid-year population estimates, taken from 2001 Population Report (Census 2001) General Register Office for Scotland.


Exhibit 16The number of customer contacts in five councils

contacts. Contacts by other means,including email and letters, are leastcommon, usually accounting foraround one in ten contacts (Exhibit 17).

3.8 Council websites receive manymillions of hits annually. The data inExhibit 17 do not include contactsthat customers make via councilwebsites. However, Audit Scotlandfound no evidence to suggestwebsite activity is having anysignificant impact on the volume ofcontacts that customers make byother channels. In particular, there isno evidence that email and web-based contacts are substituting toany significant degree for phone andface-to-face contacts.

3.9 Opinion survey research byAberdeenshire Council aboutcustomers’ preferred means ofcontacting councils suggests thatyounger people value email andwebsites as a means ofcommunicating with their council.Research by ClackmannanshireCouncil has also found that

customers are interested in usingtext messaging to communicate withtheir council. Overall, though, fewcustomers consider that these newcommunication methods shouldreplace more traditional ways ofgetting in touch.

3.10 As part of its joint research withthree councils, Audit Scotland foundthat most customer enquiriesconcerned:

• housing (both housing advisorywork and enquiries relating totenant repairs)

• social work

• council tax administration

• benefits administration

• environmental services, such asrubbish collection

• main switchboard enquiries(usually resulting in transfer of thecall to a service department).

Exhibit 16 shows that for the fivecouncils where there was data,there were between five and 12contacts a year per resident, withan average of seven or eightcontacts a year per resident.

3.6 If the estimates in Exhibit 16 areextrapolated

15they suggest that

the 32 councils in Scotland maycollectively deal with 35 to 40million enquiries or more fromcustomers every year.

Most customers contact their

council by telephone and most

enquiries should be easy to

answer

3.7 Audit Scotland also soughtinformation about the different wayscustomers contact councils and thenature of their enquiries. Whileprecise figures cannot be obtained,the available evidence indicatesthat two out of every threecustomers contact their council byphone. Face-to-face contacts mayaccount for around one in four of all

15 The estimates from Audit Scotland’s joint research with three councils are based partly on manual counts for a sample of contact points for one week only (supplemented with data automatically recorded – for example, by telephone systems – where available). The estimates depend on extrapolation and assumptions about how well the sample represented the entire council’s activity for a much longer period.

Council Reported contacts

(a year)*

Total resident in

council area**

Customer contacts

per resident

Comments

Edinburgh 2.6 to 3.0 million 449,000 6 to 7Outcome of research with AuditScotland

Renfrewshire 1.4 million 173,000 8Outcome of research with AuditScotland

South Ayrshire 1.3 million 112,000 12Letters, completed telephone calls and visitors to council offices

Argyll & Bute 0.5 to 1.0 million 91,000 5 to 11Outcome of research with AuditScotland

Stirling 0.7 million 86,000 8Completed telephone calls and visitorsto council offices and contact centre

All 5 councils 6.5 to 7.4 million 911,000 7 to 8


Note: ‘Other’ includes email and letters.


Exhibit 18Most customer enquiries should be easy to answer

Source: Audit Scotland research with three councils

0 25 50 75 100

Proportion of all contacts (%)

10%

26%

66%Phone

Face-to-face

Other

Highestestimate

Lowestestimate

Weighted average

Key

Con

tact

met

hod

0 25 50 75 100

Proportion of all contacts (%)

2%

11%

14%Assessmentnot recorded

Intermediate

Complex

73%Easy Highestestimate

Lowestestimate

Weighted average

Key

Com

plex

ity o

f enq

uiry

Exhibit 17Two out of three customers contact their council by phone

Complexity of enquiries in three councils

Staff assessed the complexity of a large sample of enquiries in three categories:

• Easy – Contacts which staff considered easy, straightforward or routine.

• Intermediate – Some initiative or thought by staff was needed.

• Complex – Needed several procedures or to be passed to others to resolve.

Not all assessments were recorded due to work pressure at peak times.

Proportion of all customer contacts in five councils

24

3.11 Despite the range of enquiriesreceived, council staff categorisedmost of them as easy to answer(Exhibit 18, page 23).

Better information about how

customers contact councils will

help improve services

3.12 Knowing how many customerscontact them, and why, helpscouncils to address importantquestions about how well theymanage and how they can improvecommunication with, and service to,customers. For example:

• North Ayrshire Council, as part ofits work to research its customercontact strategy, found that it didnot answer about a third of alltelephone calls received. In somecritical departments the proportionof calls answered was much lower.For example, the council wasanswering only 13-17% of some200,000 calls a year to its counciltax and debt recovery sections; andthe council’s emergency repairssection was answering only about31% of more than 110,000 calls ayear. The Council subsequentlyintroduced a dedicated telephonecontact centre, which hasimproved call-answeringperformance.

• Falkirk Council, in a similarexercise, discovered that it wasanswering only 21% of callsmade to its cleansing and specialuplift line. The Councilsubsequently introduced adedicated telephone contactcentre, which has improved call-answering performance.

• In Perth & Kinross Council,monitoring showed that itscouncil tax revenue teamanswered at best only around

80% of all calls received, droppingto around 50-60% at peakperiods, for example whencouncil tax demands were issued.

Such high rates of missed calls arelikely to lead to customerdissatisfaction or lost income ifrevenue is not collected.

3.13 Information about customercontacts can help councils planservices, for example:

• Information about the number ofcontacts that need to beredirected can help councils toimprove signposting of servicesto customers.

• If councils are developing call orcontact centres, informationabout activity levels will help inplanning improvements in service.

• Information about the busiestcontact points can promptimportant questions about thedesign of service delivery. Forexample, research inRenfrewshire Council highlightedthat a large number of visits tolibraries were requests forinformation unrelated to thelibrary service. This prompted thecouncil to consider action to meetbetter this demand in its libraries.

Providing a dedicated first point of

contact should help councils

improve customer service

3.14 Audit Scotland’s survey ofcouncils confirmed that 16 councilswere operating call or contactcentres in 2004 and four othercouncils had plans to introduce them.19 councils also reported theyoperated a network of first-stopshops or similar facilities. Mostcouncil call and contact centresstarted operations in 2002 or 2003and first-stop shops are also

comparatively recent. Broadly theaim is to improve the quality ofservice, including speed of responseto customer enquires, and theconsistency of information provided.

3.15 The new contact centres andfirst-stop shops provide informationand service to varying degrees anddepth.

• They often provide generalinformation about a wide range ofcouncil services. Contact centresmay answer a large proportion of total calls to the council,particularly if the services coveredinclude the council’s main generalenquiry or switchboard number.

• However, in most cases there is arelatively narrow range of servicesavailable to customers directly fromcontact centres and first-stopshops. This means for manyservices, customer service staffcan only provide generalinformation and must transfermany customers to someone else in the council (but outside the contact centre) to answer the enquiry.

3.16 Audit Scotland soughtinformation about the costs ofimprovements councils have made to the way in which they respond to customers’ enquiries. In AuditScotland’s survey, most councilsreported projects under way toimprove customer service, but theinformation available about their costsvaried. For example, some councilssimply indicated that they wereinvolved in consortium/joint bids forMGF grants (Exhibit 6, page 7)without specifying what the projectswere or their costs. Exhibit 19indicates the cost of projects whichcould be identified from AuditScotland’s survey.



Exhibit 19Typical costs of customer service improvement projects

investment, the key elements of theimproved service and how theproject was funded.

3.19 In Audit Scotland’s survey, foreach of 11 generic service areas(such as ‘housing’ and ‘social work’)councils were asked to categorisethe range of services available tocustomers from shops and contactcentres within three levels of cover.

16

The results show that most contactcentres and shops provide thehighest level of cover to one or twoservice areas only. The mostcommonly covered service areas arehousing, finance, the environmentand roads & transport (Exhibit 21,page 28). However, AuditScotland’s research shows thatwhile social work enquiries canrepresent a significant part of totalcustomer ‘demand’, most contactcentres and first-stop shopsprovide limited or no cover.

3.20 Dedicated points of contact canprovide other benefits to councils andcustomers, in addition to improvingspeed of response to customerenquiries. If councils dedicate staff toanswering enquiries from customersand concentrate on the mostcommon enquiries, they can improvethe consistency and quality ofresponses through standardisation,specialisation and common training.Dedication also promotes newopportunities to analyse and improveperformance.

3.21 However, information aboutthe improvements in the quality ofservice that the new contactcentres and first-stop shopsachieve is not availablesystematically. The data on councilcall centres which Audit Scotlandexamined is patchy, but the latestavailable data for Glasgow CityCouncil and North LanarkshireCouncil show abandoned calls toeach of their telephone contactcentres were 2% (in 2003/04) and3% (April 2004 to January 2005)respectively. In addition to this

3.17 MGF monies have provided amajor source of funding for capitalspending on new customer facilitiesand IT systems to support customerservice by councils. In addition toone-off capital costs, the councilshave incurred annual running costs(mainly staff costs) from operatingthe new contact centres and otherfacilities. From Audit Scotland’sexamination of customer serviceimprovements within seven councils,it appears that, usually, internaltransfers of budgets from otherdepartments that the new facilitiessupport largely or wholly fund thesestaff costs. Consequently, councils’net additional running costs fromintroducing initiatives such as thenew centres appear to be low ornon-existent.

3.18 Exhibit 20 (page 26) is anexample of a customer serviceimprovement project which EastRenfrewshire Council hassuccessfully implemented. Itdescribes the case for the

16 The three levels of cover for each service area were “all or most services”, “some services”, “little or no services/information only”.

Initiative/Project Number of councils Range of costs for each project

Establishment or further developmentof customer contact/service centre

8 £0.2 million to £1.8 million

Website development 7 Generally cited as ongoing revenueinvestment, although one council estimatedcosts of £1 million

Development of customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) system

6 £0.2 million to £0.8 million

Development of ‘smart cards’ 6 £1.1 million to £2.5 million

Further development of first-stop shops/accesspoints/community portals

5 £40,000 to £1.3 million

Business improvement/re-engineering 3 £60,000 to £120,000 a year

Document image processing 2 £0.2 million (one council)

26

Exhibit 20East Renfrewshire’s Customer First project

East Renfrewshire Council’s vision for customer service

Key objectives in the council’s Corporate Strategy for Customer Contact – Customer First (2000) included:

• delivering the highest quality, user friendly, total customer service via a variety of contact channels • creating an effective corporate staff team to develop a customer focused culture• resolving a large percentage of all customer enquiries at first point of contact • standardising front line services across the council to the council’s corporate customer service standard • seeking joined-up service delivery by working closely with the service areas and external agencies.

Subsidiary objectives included: moving towards a 24-hour council; dealing with a wide range of customer requests atthe first point of contact; and developing electronic means of service delivery, where appropriate, to reduce costs.

The council developed this strategy in response to a best value review of customer contact and modernisation inMay 2000. The review found service standards needed to be improved and modernised. For example, it found thatfor telephone enquiries, unanswered calls from customers often represented between 40% and 70% of all traffic toindividual departments; visitors to council offices were generally satisfied with the service, though reception areasdid not provide good facilities for efficient face-to-face contact.

Customer First

In parallel with the best value review reported in 2000, the council developed an option for radical improvements incustomer service to be part-funded with support from the Scottish Executive’s MGF.

A key aspect of this was setting up a new customer service function, Customer First, including a centralised,purpose-built contact centre for most general inquiries by phone and in person in Barrhead. This was incorporated inthe council’s larger project for a new-build office in Barrhead.

In addition to the main contact centre, there are two satellite offices (service centres) from which the Customer First functions are delivered.

Key features of the new service include:

• improved access – the contact centre is open for calls and visitors 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday• scope of the contact centre includes most Council Tax inquiries, all special uplifts, complaints, all blue badge

applications and general inquiries across the full range of other council services• dedicated staff serving customers with suitable skills and training • customer relationship management system, so that staff can track contacts (including previous history).

Funding Customer First – capital investment

MGF funds were secured (see table) and the new service commenced in January 2002. Staff transferred to thenew HQ in Barrhead when it opened in November 2002. The total staff complement for this service was 17 at thetime of our visit.

Some £1.3 million of the total investment of £1.65 million was for new IT systems and equipment to facilitate thecontact centre. The balance of costs arises from staff training and new accommodation.

The council estimated annual running costs at £479,900 for 2002/03 and £637,276 for 2003/04 (primarily staffcosts). Staff costs are funded by internal transfer of budgets from the main departments that the contact centresupports, including Finance, Education, Social Work and Housing & Commercial Operations.

Source 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 Total

Modernising Government Fund £280,000 £520,000 - - £800,000

East Renfrewshire – capital £100,000 £250,000 £200,000 £300,000 £850,000

£380,000 £770,000 £200,000 £300,000 £1,650,000

Source: Audit Scotland/East Renfrewshire Council


indication of improvedresponsiveness, surveys ofcustomers provide importantevidence about the quality of service.For example, surveys by NorthLanarkshire Council in 2002 showevidence of significant improvementin customers’ satisfaction with first-stop shops and in all residents’satisfaction with how the councilresponded to their enquiries (Exhibits22 and 23, page 29).

Councils can improve

responsiveness by extending their

opening hours

3.22 Most councils offer customersonly emergency services outsidestandard office hours although,where they are established, contactcentres and first-stop shopssometimes offer extended openingtimes (Exhibit 24, page 30).

3.23 Councils, of course, need tobalance customers’ expectationsabout when they can obtaincouncil services against the highercosts of extended opening. Councilsshould market research demand tojustify extended opening times. Forexample, after a period of pilottesting, in 2004 North LanarkshireCouncil extended its telephonecontact centre opening times fromnormal office hours to 8am-6pmMonday to Friday, 9am-noonSaturday, and 10am-2pm on publicholidays (later extended to 9am-3pmon public holidays). These were thebusiest times during the test period,with much lower demand at othertimes piloted, for example, weekdayevenings after 6pm or Saturdayafternoons. Subsequent monitoringshowed that the council receivedsome 400 more calls a week duringthe additional opening time, 6% ofthe total demand.

Technology can help to improve

customer service

3.24 Many councils are employingtechnology to help improve servicesto customers. The key forms oftechnology councils are using toimprove customer service are:

• website development

• CRM systems

• telephony systems.

Websites

3.25 In Audit Scotland’s survey 15 councils reported websitedevelopment was one of the mostimportant changes they had made inrecent years to improve customerservice. Twelve councils said websitedevelopment would be a keydevelopment in the immediate future(one to two years). Significant workon website development was underway or had recently been undertakenin six of the seven councils AuditScotland visited for this study.

3.26 The Society of InformationTechnology Management (SOCITM)provides guidance on website goodpractice and undertakes a regularassessment of council websites. TheScottish Executive has also set theobjective that all public sectorservices in Scotland which canfeasibly be delivered electronicallywill be available online by 2005.While most customers still prefer tocontact their council by telephone,usage statistics show that there isdemand for online information aboutservices (Exhibit 25, page 31).

3.27 Where information is madeavailable, it should be accurate andup to date. All of the councils visitedby Audit Scotland indicated that aneffective content managementsystem, where responsibility forkeeping information up to date isclearly allocated to a team or

individual, was central to deliveringan effective website. Most of thecouncils Audit Scotland visited hadattempted some form of user testingbefore ‘going live’ with their newwebsite. However, evidence thatcouncils had directly involvedcustomers in the development ordesign stages was rare.

3.28 Councils plan, organise andmonitor website activity in differentways. Using data effectively tochange working practices or sitestructure can lead to benefits forboth customers and the organisation(Exhibit 26, page 31).

3.29 The primary costs associatedwith websites are for upkeep of thesite. This usually requires somecentral resource, along with a networkof service representatives tasked withkeeping information about theirparticular service up to date.

CRM systems

3.30 ‘Customer relationshipmanagement’ (CRM) encompassesmethods that councils use to learnmore about customers’ needs anddevelop stronger relationships withthem. Many councils have investedin computerised CRM systems withthe aim of supporting good customerservice. Audit Scotland’s surveyindicated eight councils had a CRMsystem (in 2003) to support contactstaff responsible for resolvingcustomer enquiries; other councilshave subsequently approvedinvestment in similar projects. Of theseven councils visited by AuditScotland, three had a computerisedCRM system in place.

3.31 Computerised CRM systemsgather and maintain data aboutcustomers in a single application,including information about previousenquiries by any customer. Typicallycouncils operate many different ITsystems which have information

28


0 5 10 15

Housing

Finance

The environment

Roads & transport

Planning

Social work

Regulatory services

Sport & leisure

Economic development

Education

Other corporate services

Number of first stop networks coveringeach service area

11 g

ener

ic s

ervi

ce a

reas

Some parts of the service covered

Key: Level of cover provided

All or most parts of the service covered Little or no cover/ information only

Number of generic service areas covered byeach first stop shop network

Orkney Islands

West Lothian

Highland

Argyll & Bute

Clackmannanshire

Fife

Falkirk

North Ayrshire

South Lanarkshire

East Renfrewshire

East Ayrshire

Angus

East Dunbartonshire

Moray

Stirling

Scottish Borders

Dumfries & Galloway

North Lanarkshire

Aberdeen City

0 5 10

19 c

ounc

il fir

st-s

top

shop

net

wor

ks

Exhibit 21Access to council services

Through contact centres

Through first-stop shops

The environment

Finance

Roads & transport

Housing

Education

Social work

Sport & leisure

Planning

Regulatory services

Economic development

Other corporate services

0 5 10 15Number of contact centres covering

each service area

11 g

ener

ic s

ervi

ce a

reas

West Lothian

Fife

East Renfrewshire

Clackmannanshire

Stirling

Dundee City Council

North Lanarkshire

North Ayrshire

Highland

Glasgow City

Renfrewshire

South Lanarkshire

Angus

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

City of Edinburgh

East Dunbartonshire

0 2 4 6 8 10

Number of generic service areas covered byeach council contact centre

16 c

ounc

il co

ntac

t cen

tres

Exhibit 23North Lanarkshire residents’ survey 1999 and 2002: key findings on satisfaction

Per cent satisfied or very satisfied

1999 results

2002 results

The ease of contacting someone whocould deal with your enquiry

The helpfulness and politenes of the staffyou dealt with and the reply you received

The promptness with which you received a reply to your enquiry

The speed at which any action wastaken or work carried out

The overall quality of theservice you received or the work

which was carried out

The outcome of your enquiry

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

76%

86%

80%

87%

61%

75%

50%

68%

54%

72%

54%

74%

Key

Exhibit 22Customer satisfaction with North Lanarkshire’s first-stop shops

Source: North Lanarkshire Council

North Lanarkshire Council’s maininformation about customers’views of their services comesfrom two surveys of residents in1999 and 2002.

These were major researchprojects with 3,473 (1999) and2,758 (2002) people interviewed,and the results provide astatistically valid representationof all residents’ views.

The results provide evidence of a significant improvement in respondents’ satisfaction with council services andcustomer service.

North Lanarkshire Council first surveyed its first-stop Shop customers between April and June 2002 (with a top upsurvey in early 2003). A total of 18,032 survey forms were issued, covering all ten shops, with 3,180 (18%) beingreturned. Key findings from the survey included:

• 84% of respondents considered overall service provided had improved as a result of the introduction of thefirst-stop shops; 11% recorded no difference; and 5% did not provide an answer.

• 78% of customers considered their enquiry to have been satisfactorily resolved during their visit; 21% did notconsider their enquiry to have been satisfactorily resolved; and the remaining 3% did not answer.

• 30% of respondents included additional comments. These comments suggested a specific strength was how wellstaff treated customers (where positive comments outweighed negatives 6:1). However, almost as manyrespondents commented on waiting time and negative comments in this area exceeded positives also by about 6:1.

The Council has undertaken more detailed analysis of the findings, including consideration of the individualcomments made by customers and opportunities to address areas of dissatisfaction. In early 2005 the Council wasanalysing the results of a further survey of 4,000 customers of its first-stop shops, contact centre and website,with 512 responses (13%) received.

Source: North Lanarkshire Council


30

Exhibit 24Examples of extended opening hours

still needed to access a variety ofsystems in addition to the CRMsystem to update customer data andlog requests. Also, reportingarrangements were in the earlystages of development, with littleinformation available on specificallyhow the information gatheredthrough systems would be used toimprove service.

3.34 In summary, the new CRMsystems support the operationalmanagement of customer contactcentres and provide some importantand helpful management information,which contributes indirectly to thedevelopment of good customerservice. They help to support newways of working by councils andpromote efficiency, although theyare not generating any significantsavings in running costs.

Telephony and call management

systems

3.35 Four of the councils visited byAudit Scotland operated call or contactcentres covering more than oneservice. In each case, some form ofcall management software was in

place to help management establish,and respond to, demand. Managerswere able to monitor the following callor contact centre information:

• Number of calls received.

• Number of calls waiting inqueuing systems.

• Number of calls abandoned.

• Time taken to answer calls.

• Number of calls taken byindividual members of staff.

• Length of calls dealt with byindividual members of staff.

• Length of time spent by staff not‘in call’.

Information about these aspects of callhandling provides management withimportant information about call traffic,staff performance, resource levels andconsequent training needs.

about individual customers dividedbetween many applications, withlittle or no opportunity to share data.

3.32 CRM systems should helpcouncils deal with enquiries andrequests efficiently, and supportgood customer service by allowingbetter access to customerinformation. Ideally councils shouldbe able to update customer data byupdating only one system. Wherelegacy systems have not beenreplaced, the CRM system should belinked to those systems and dataupdated automatically. An effectiveCRM system should also providecouncils with valuable informationabout demand for services. Bydeveloping effective reportingsystems and mechanisms, councilsshould be able to identify areas ofhigh demand and potential problemareas, and tackle areas where thereis a danger of service failure.

3.33 In practice, in those councilsAudit Scotland visited, there was onlylimited integration between newCRM systems and legacy systems.For example, customer service staff

Aberdeen City Council’s The Point (Customer Service Centre) is open six days each week:

• from 8.30am-5.30pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday• from 10am-5.30pm on Tuesday • from 8.30am-6.30pm on Thursday• from 10am-1pm on Saturday.

Angus Council’s ACCESS line is open between 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

East Renfrewshire Council’s Customer First team offer services from 8am-6pm Monday to Friday.

Glasgow City Council’s Access Centre is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Renfrewshire Council’s Customer Contact Centre is open from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday.

Stirling Council’s Contact Centre is open from 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, and on Saturday from 10am-4pm.

West Lothian Council’s Customer Service Centre offers services to customers from 8am-8pm Monday toFriday. The West Lothian Connected facility is open six days, including from 9.30am-2.30pm on Saturday.



Exhibit 25Websites – selected usage statistics

Scope

3.38 In pursuing better customerservice, councils need to keep sightof the scope and pace of changeacross the whole range of services tocustomers. Many councils nowprovide dedicated points of contactfor many common types ofcustomers’ enquiries. Even so, abouta third of councils have not made anysignificant changes in how they areorganised to respond to customers.And even where councils haveintroduced major improvements forcustomers, other services in thesame council – even entiredepartments – appear untouched byany greater emphasis on moreeffective service for customers.

Outcomes

3.39 Councils should distinguishbetween how they manage contactswith customers and the consequent outcome for the customer.

3.40 Contact centres and first-stopshops help make it easier forcustomers to access councilservices, but councils should alsomanage the end result for the

customer. Improving contact withcustomers is valuable – for example,making it easier for tenants tocontact the council and requestservices such as a house repair. Butif the end result is only better accessto a weak service – for example,because the council maintenanceservice frequently fails to turn up ontime or to make a good repair – theend result is unlikely to satisfy thecustomer.

Need

3.41 If councils make improvementswithout researching what customerswant, they may waste money onineffective or unnecessary projects.They may also fail to identify theareas of greatest potential need (andtherefore benefit) while seeking toimprove areas which customersconsider are of a lower priority.

3.36 Setting targets for theseaspects will not necessarily deliverimprovements in overall service tocustomers. For example, a target tominimise the length of individual callsmay lead to staff closing calls beforethey have resolved the caller’s query.Councils were keen to stress thatthere is little point in encouragingstaff to deal with calls quickly ifthis did not result in customersgetting the information or servicethey requested.

Call centres and first-stop shops

do not guarantee improved services

3.37 Providing facilities such ascontact centres and first-stop shopsshould help councils provide betterservice to customers, but AuditScotland’s work suggests thatimprovements in councils’ facilitiesdo not guarantee a better service forcustomers. Risks and potentialobstacles arise from the scope ofnecessary change, the need forcouncils to consider the outcomesfrom improving responses tocustomers’ enquiries and how wellimprovements address the areasof greatest need.

Exhibit 26Examples of when website data has led to improvements

Council Period Average hits* per day Average visits** per day

Aberdeenshire September 2004 226,024 2,831

East Renfrewshire July 2003 28,568 733

North Lanarkshire April 2003 42,513 8,226

Notes:*Hits – the total number offiles requested from theserver (not the same as the number of pages a visitor views). **Visits – the (approximate)number of individual visitorsto the site.


Aberdeenshire CouncilA survey of website users suggested the location of the A-Z index was problematic. The Council moved the indexand this resulted in an increase in the number of hits to the A-Z page from 1,600 to 3,000 in a single month.

In another case, the council established that a high number of email requests were for application forms. Making the forms available online led to efficiency gains, in terms of both staff time to process the requests and postage costs.

East Renfrewshire CouncilThe council regularly analyses the terms searched for by users. Isolating those terms which elicit a ‘none found’response from the search engine allows the council to identify quickly problems with terminology or a lack ofrelevant or helpful information.


32


3.42 It is important that councilsknow how many customerscontact them. Although informationabout customer contact council-wide is rare, our research showsthat broadly:

• The 32 councils in Scotland maycollectively deal with 35–40million or more enquiries fromcustomers every year.

• Two out of every threecustomers contact their councilby phone, while face-to-facecontacts may account for aroundone in four of all contacts.

• Despite increased online activity over recent years,contacts by other meansincluding email and letters areleast common, accounting forone in ten contacts.

• Despite the wide range ofcustomer enquiries that councilsreceive, most should be easy to answer.

3.43 A dedicated first point ofcontact should help councilsimprove responsiveness to themany enquiries they receive. By2004, 16 councils had introducedcall or contact centres and 19reported they had a network offirst-stop shops or similar facilitiescovering many of the mostcommon inquiries from customers.

3.44 Improvements at only thefront end of councils’ customeroperations do not guarantee abetter service for customers. If theend result is only better access to a weak service, it is unlikely tosatisfy the customers. Councilsshould manage the end result forthe customer as well.

3.45 Councils should improvecustomer contact through:

• Undertaking effective research toestablish how, when and whycustomers contact them.Understanding these factorsshould help councils to plan more effectively.

• Analysing what barriers andopportunities exist for access and consistent quality of service to customers across all main activities.

33

Councils’ customer service plans

are at different stages of

development

4.3 Audit Scotland’s surveys ofcouncils asked how councils areorganised to promote the delivery ofeffective customer service.

17

They asked each council to make a broad assessment of the overallstatus of its customer servicestrategy and progress towardsimplementation and collectedinformation about plans and servicestandards. They also sought viewson the perceived main drivers,barriers and constraints to deliveringeffective customer service.

4.4 Most councils considered (in 2003) that their customerservice strategies were only at anearly or intermediate stage ofdevelopment. According to theirown assessment, only four of 27councils responding had in placemature strategies that were welladvanced in implementation.

Eleven councils considered that they had a clearly defined strategyand had made some progress inimplementation. The remaining 12 councils responding consideredthey were at an early stage ofdevelopment in this area (Exhibit 28 overleaf).

4.5 In both its 2003 and 2004surveys, Audit Scotland askedcouncils how they had documentedtheir plans for developing customerservice. In many cases, the plans and programmes set high level aimsor goals for improvement, andindicated that customer service was an important part of eachcouncil’s thinking.

4.6 Exhibit 29 (page 35) provides fourexamples of the high-level aimstypical of those set by many councils,illustrating the general aspiration toproviding good customer service.

4.1 Many councils considerimproving access as a step towardsimproving overall service tocustomers, and Part 3 examined howcouncils have reorganised in recentyears to do this. However, whencustomers contact councils forinformation or other help, the staffwho provide the initial point ofcontact may not be those whoultimately provide the desired service or information. Improvingaccess alone may represent poor value if there is nocorresponding improvement in the underlying service.

4.2 Part 4 therefore examines themanagement arrangements withincouncils to achieve improvement inoutcomes for customers. Improvingcustomer service is complex, wide-ranging and fundamental, and thereare therefore significant challenges forcouncils in seeking to implementcustomer service strategies (Exhibit 27 overleaf).

Part 4. Leadership and organisation of customer service

17 Audit Scotland surveyed all 32 Scottish councils. Five councils participated in a pilot version of the survey in 2003, which Audit Scotland subsequently revised and issued to the remaining 27 councils (consequently, for a few questions, analysis is based on the responses of only 27 councils). In 2004, Audit Scotland issued a follow-up survey to all 32 councils. There was a 100% response rate to each survey. Councils were invited to provide evidence, such as copies of any customer service plans, marketing materials and performance information, to support their responses.

34

Exhibit 28Status of customer service strategy development in Scottish councils

Note: Results exclude five councils in the pilot survey who were not asked this question.

Source: Audit Scotland survey

Num

ber o

f cou

ncils

Mature strategywell-advanced inimplementation

Clearly defined strategy,some progress inimplementation

Early stages ofdevelopment

0

2

4

6

8

10

1212

11

4

Source: Improving Customer Service – Putting the Customer at the Centre of the Local Authority, Society ofInformation Technology Management, September 2002

Exhibit 27SOCITM’s definition of a customer service strategy

Survey question – Broadly speaking, what is the overall status of your council’scustomer services strategy and progress towards implementation?

“… the alignment of business strategy, organisation structure, culture, customerinformation and technology for the organisation to deliver accessible, quality andcost-effective services.”

35Part 4. Leadership and organisation of customer service

Exhibit 29Examples of customer service aims

Angus Council (Corporate Plan 2003/07)

Customer Care – We aim to:• put customer care at the forefront of our service delivery• build on our existing good practice• deliver customer services that are modern and what people want.

We will:

• achieve this by involving our staff and customers• use modern technology to help people reach us• give customers every opportunity to: get information; ask for a service; make a payment; let us know their views.

East Dunbartonshire Council (Customer Service Strategy, March 2004)

The Customer Service Vision:The Council will strive to meet the needs of individual customers while addressing its broader responsibilities topromote and support the wellbeing of its communities. It will seek to gain the respect of all customers throughpride in public service.

Fife Council (Customer Contact Strategy September 2002)

Key principlesOur ultimate objectives in developing our Customer Contact Strategy are to:

• provide quality and equality of access, standards and contact experience across all points of customer contactand for all groups of customers

• resolve customer service needs at the first point of contact• provide customers access to services when, where and how they want it• join-up and proactively offer services to our customers in more convenient ways• capture customer information first time and reduce the need for repetition• develop a better understanding of our customers' needs to improve service delivery• reduce the cost of transactions and re-invest savings into improving services for our customers.

Stirling Council (21st Century Government Action Plan 2001)

Customer CareOne of the key objectives of this work is to improve customer satisfaction with public services. We must alsoensure value for money and consistent service delivery across all Stirling Council citizen contact points (which includelocal offices, the integrated contact centre and anywhere a member of staff interfaces directly with the public).

The objectives of the customer care programme are:

• to consistently deliver on customer commitments through Customer Care Standards, and thereby enhance customer satisfaction and confidence in the council

• to take responsibility and ownership for customer issues/queries and ensure their resolution• to ensure that the customer experience leaves the citizen satisfied, informed and listened to, and more willing

to use Council services in the future• to enhance communication between citizens and Stirling Council, through increases in accessibility, reliability,

consistency and openness• to reduce the cost of delivery by resolving customer concerns at the first point of contact.• to assess effectiveness of the programme against clear and agreed standards, and take prompt and appropriate

action to rectify deficiencies• to set performance levels and standards for customer response and to put in place monitoring systems which

give effective management information to ensure that standards are being met and to aspire to even furtherimprovements.

Source: Audit Scotland/Councils

36

4.7 Audit Scotland’s surveys alsoasked councils what the mostimportant incentives to improvingcustomer service were. Mostlycouncils saw all the factors identifiedin the survey as relevant to improvingcustomer service and of broadly evenweighting. The main incentives forimproved customer service seemto be a desire to improve servicequality and promoteaccess/inclusion, combined withexternal pressure from the ScottishExecutive’s ModernisingGovernment agenda (Exhibit 30).

4.8 As well as incentives, AuditScotland’s survey asked councils tocomment on the main problems andconstraints to delivering bettercustomer service. The constraints fallbroadly into two main categories:those concerning resources eg, competing priorities and aperceived lack of resources, bothfinancial and staff; and thoseconcerning organisational culture, for example, overcomingdepartmental ways of thinking andreluctance to change. Otherconstraints identified by councilsincluded technology costs andengaging members and management,though overall councils tended to seethese as less important constraints(Exhibit 31).

Councils are still developing plans

to improve customer service

4.9 Audit Scotland’s survey soughtinformation from councils in threeimportant areas of customer servicemanagement within each council:

• Who is responsible for leading thedevelopment of customer servicewithin each council?

• Is there a single council-wide planor strategy for developing goodcustomer service?

• Is there a project team with aspecific remit to support thedevelopment of good customerservice (and how far councilshave involved staff more widely incustomer service development)?

On leadership

4.10 Audit Scotland’s survey askedwho had lead responsibility for takingforward the development andimprovement of customer servicewithin each council. The surveyresults can be grouped broadly intothree overlapping categories:

• A general arrangement whereresponsibility lies with seniormanagement and/or electedmembers alone (11 councils).

• Those where a specific group,team or individual had beenallocated responsibility (18 councils). (For four of thesecouncils this is in addition to themore general arrangement above.)

• Those where responsibility restswith individual departments (three councils).

On customer service plans

4.11 In response to Audit Scotland’sspecific survey question, 13 of 32councils reported they did nothave “a plan or strategy set out ina single document addressing at acorporate level customer serviceissues.”

4.12 Of the 19 councils reportingthey had recorded their plans in asingle document:

• For 11 councils the plans weredraft documents or were in theearly stages of development.Information in the plans aboutspecific ways of improving anddeveloping services to customerswas scarce or absent.

• In three councils, plans were twoto four years old and not ‘active’.In two of these cases, the planswere ‘21st Century GovernmentAction Plans’ produced to supportbids for MGF funding, not a planfor managing good customerservice created independently.

• In three further councils, the planswere not dedicated to customerservice, but were plans for awider change programme, ICTstrategy or external consultationand communication.

• Specific targets to measurestandards of customer service tobe achieved were rarely presentin the plans.

On project teams and involving

staff more widely

4.13 In Audit Scotland’s survey, 13 councils reported they had aproject team with a specific remitto support the development ofcustomer service.

• In seven of these councils, theteams had specific responsibilitiesfor assessing services andidentifying potential processimprovements.

• In six councils, the teams had abroader role, for example theywere charged with developing acustomer service strategy or withoverseeing the council’s customercontact centre.

4.14 Sixteen of the remaining 19councils reported they did not have adedicated business change/processreview team to support thedevelopment of customer service.Three further councils reported theyhad a project team with a specificremit but did not provide anyinformation about what the remit was.

Part 4. Leadership and organisation of customer service 37

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Sco

re

Resource issues

Cultural issues

Other issues

Key

Compe

ting p

rioritie

s

Lack o

f finan

cial re

source

s

Lack o

f ded

icated

staff r

esourc

es

Lack o

f clea

r

busin

ess ca

se

Overcom

ing de

partm

ental

ways of

think

ing

Relucta

nce to

chang

e

Lack o

f mana

gemen

t/

membe

r eng

agemen

t

Lack o

f skill

s/ kno

wledge

Techn

ology

issue

sOthe

r

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Sco

re

Other

Reduce

compla

ints

Service

revie

w

Elected

mem

bers

Impro

ve im

age

Impro

ve eff

iciency

Impro

ve qu

ality

Best va

lue

Impro

ve acc

ess

Key par

t of st

rateg

y

Scottish

Executi

ve

Modern

ising G

overnm

ent a

gend

a

Deliver

bene

fits

Exhibit 31Main constraints for customer service development

Survey question – what have you found to be the main problems and constraints to delivering better customer service within your council?

Exhibit 30Main incentives for improving customer service

Survey question – what have you found to be the main drivers to help you make progress in improvingcustomer services within your council?

Note: Councils ranked each driveras of high, medium or lowimportance. For this exhibit weconverted each ranking into a score(high = 3, medium = 2, low = 1) andaggregated the results for allcouncils.


Note: Councils ranked each issue as a high, medium or low constraint.For this presentation we convertedeach ranking into a score (high = 3, medium = 2, low = 1) and aggregated the results for all councils.


38

Exhibit 32Managing successful programmes

Councils should actively plan to

review and improve customer

service

4.17 Many councils have aimswhich recognise the importance ofgood customer service but do notnecessarily have a deliberateprogramme to achieve the goodcustomer service aims to whichthey aspire. Where change isnecessary in an important area likecustomer service, a structuredapproach to identifying, establishingand running a change programme isgood practice for any organisation.The Office of GovernmentCommerce (OGC) publishesguidance on programmemanagement techniques (Exhibit 32).SOCITM also recommends thatstrong programme management isneeded to develop and implement acustomer service strategy (Exhibit 33). Councils shouldconsider whether to adoptestablished guidance to managecustomer service improvements.

4.18 Councils could provide goodleadership without allocatingresponsibility for change to anyindividual or team. However, there isa risk is that, without overallaccountability being assigned, whenproblems arise, change programmeswill be diverted and no seriousrecovery action will be attempted.Similarly the absence of a formal planor programme of change does notnecessarily mean that improvementscannot be achieved. For example,some councils Audit Scotland visitedhave made significant improvementsin customer service without a formalcouncil-wide plan. But in thosecouncils responsibility for changewas clearly allocated and there was aproject management plan for the keychanges, including dedicated staffallocated to the customer serviceimprovement project.

4.19 Councils use many approachesto improving customer service.Where there is no single, overarchingplan for improvement, changes incustomer service may still progressas part of wider initiatives, forexample, as part of Best Value

4.15 These findings are consistentwith councils’ self-assessment thatmany are at a comparatively early orintermediate stage of development(Exhibit 28, page 34).

4.16 Audit Scotland’s survey alsoasked about examples of goodpractice where councils haveinvolved staff more widely in seekingto improve customer service.Twenty-six councils reported theyhave involved front-line staff tovarying degrees in this sort ofinitiative. Examples of staffinvolvement included: short-termfocus/working groups, on bothimproved customer service initiativesand more wide-ranging projects,such as communication reviews;discussion of customer serviceissues in existing forums, such asregular team meetings; and staffinvolvement through qualityinitiatives, Best Value reviews andbusiness process re-engineeringprocesses.

What is Programme Management?

Programme Management is a structured way of defining and implementing change within an organisation. It is aframework for implementing business strategies and initiatives by coordinating projects that change organisationsto achieve important benefits.

‘Managing Successful Programmes’ is the Office of Government Commerce’s (OGC’s) recommended approachto programme management.

For further information, see: www.ogc.gov.uk/sdtoolkit/reference/deliverylifecycle/prog_mgmt.html

Critical success factors for programmes

• Overall direction and leadership responsibility rests with one individual.• Active stakeholder management.• Clear vision of the required change and how success will be measured.• Active coordination of programme’s components, the relationship with other programmes and the interface to

business strategy.• Clearly assigned responsibility for the delivery of business benefits.• The organisation has appropriate personnel available with relevant skills and experience to set up, manage and

deliver the programme.• The organisation is capable of achieving the change required by the programme.• Programme management and support processes are in place.

Source: Office of Government Commerce


Source: Improving Customer Service – Putting the Customer at the Centre of the Local Authority, Society of Information Technology Management,September 2002

Exhibit 33SOCITM – key elements of a programme to deliver effective customer service

dedicated business review team,which North Lanarkshire Council hasestablished as a key aspect of itsoverall approach to improvingservices. Exhibit 35 (page 41), is anexample of service improvementfrom this team’s work. Othercouncils with business review teamshave adopted similar approaches.

Councils should consider setting

measurable targets for customer

service

4.22 Performance measurement is aprerequisite for accountability, valuefor money and Best Value.Particularly when assessing thequality of service delivery,performance measures shouldtake account of the customerperspective. The AccountsCommission has previously reportedon approaches to performancemeasurement, recommending a“balanced scorecard” approach(Exhibit 36, page 41). Anorganisation’s ability to achievecontinuous improvement in itsservice delivery is critically dependanton its performance measurementapproach. The balanced scorecard

offers a way of ensuring that anorganisation’s strategies and detailedplans have been thought through andare visibly linked to wider goals.

4.23 Audit Scotland asked councilswhat standards, targets andmeasures they had in place to showthe achievement of their overallcustomer service objectives.Twenty-three councils reportedthey had set standards and targetsin their customer service strategyor spread through other strategiesand plans such as their corporateplan. However, the supportingevidence showed that:

• In Audit Scotland’s assessment,only nine councils had settargets or measures to supportimproved customer service,allowing achievement to bemeasured. In other councils the‘targets’ were high-level aims.The aims confirm that councilsaspire to good customer servicebut they could not provide a basisto measure a council’s service tocustomers or assess performance.Exhibit 37 (page 42) gives someexamples of councils’ targets,

reviews of services. Service reviewsmay include:

• gathering and analysing feedbackfrom customers

• seeking the views of staff

• reviewing aspects of a process,or wholesale review

• an independent assessment bystaff not directly involved in orresponsible for the service.

4.20 Subjecting services to businesschange reviews are thereforeworthwhile. Business review teamscan provide a resource and expertisededicated to seeing service from thecustomer perspective. Systematicreviews of service from a customerperspective can also help generateimprovements in cost-effectivenessand in how services are provided.

4.21 Seven councils haveestablished business review teamswith a specific remit to assessservices and identify potentialprocess improvements. Exhibit 34(overleaf) is an example of a

The SOCITM report says that themeans to achieve good servicedelivery is through developmentand implementation of a customerservice strategy.

The strategy should be developedwith an understanding of customerneeds, identified through customersurveys and an analysis ofcustomer demands.

Implementing a customer servicestrategy requires significant cultureand organisational change andstrong programme managementacross the organisation.

Scope

Create the vision

Develop the customer service strategy

Develop the business case Measure performance

Implementation

Manage the programme

Manage risk

Manage resources Manage data Manage technology

Develop customerfocused processes

Understandcustomer needs

Undertakeculture change

40

Exhibit 34North Lanarkshire Council’s business change process

As well as better access for customers, a key aim of the North Lanarkshire Direct project is to improve serviceefficiency. The project incorporates a “business change process” used in private sector organisations.

The approach seeks greater efficiency and better service through innovation and systematic study of processesfrom the customers’ perspective. One of the main aims is to look “outside in” on the organisation. A dedicatedbusiness change team of three staff within the North Lanarkshire Direct project provides these services.

What does business change involve?

Assess and improve services prior to inclusion in the North Lanarkshire Direct service. In each service area,the team starts by defining the purpose of the process and checking the current performance of the system.Starting from the customers’ perspective, processes are analysed to:

• establish what is currently happening, how predictably and why • gather information on any waste and inefficiency and its impact on customers and staff • determine ‘system conditions’ – targets or policies which drive behaviour in the process.

Understand and measure demand. A key aspect is to distinguish customer calls and visits into ‘value’ and ‘failure’ demand.

• A value call may be "Can I report a fault?" • A failure call may be "I'm calling for the third time about my fault".

The objective is to understand why failure occurs so it can be designed out of the process.

Measure capability. Based on "what matters to customers", the team measures how well the process isresponding to customer demand. The team reviews why and how service capability varies and examines otherapproaches before planning potential improvements.

Redesign – to provide a process which is fully aligned with the needs of the customer, the team:

• identifies ‘value’ work• redesigns processes to remove waste and reduce variation • identifies which system conditions must change • replaces targets with capability measures.

Test and implement. Changes must be tested to ensure that the redesigned process is robust. Beforeimplementation the team:

• sets up a pilot area to test processes • refines any issues that arise• estimates the impact of redesigned processes using demand and capability measures• tests potential delivery via customer contact centre.

If the test is successful the council rolls out the redesigned process to all service areas. The new capabilitymeasures become part of the management and improvement framework for the service.

Source: Audit Scotland/North Lanarkshire Council


Exhibit 36The balanced scorecard

Exhibit 35Example of service improvement

North Lanarkshire Council’s business change team examined the council’s housing stock repairs service in 2003:

• The team collected evidence that for some housing offices, failure calls represented up to 45% of all calls received.

• A typical example of a failure call is one seeking a reappointment for a repair visit because a previous visit hadresulted in a ‘no access’ (the tenant was out when the repair team arrived). Prior to the business changeanalysis, no access calls could account for 20% of all calls by the repair team in any given period.

• As a result of introducing the business change team’s redesigned systems and processes in two housingoffices, ‘no access’ calls have fallen to about 3% of the previous levels. Improvements have beenachieved by initiatives such as the labour team making appointments direct with the customer in manycases. Response times to customers have also improved and because of the changes and improvements,staff morale has improved.

Source: Audit Scotland/North Lanarkshire Council

Setting direction

Vision, mission,priorities and goals

Strategies and plans

The key initiatives andactions planned

Customer perspectiveTo be successful, how should we appear toour customers and key stakeholders?

Actions Performance measures

Financial perspectiveTo be successful, how should we appear tothose who provide our financial resources?


Continuous improvement perspectiveTo be successful, how will we sustain ourability to learn and to improve?


Internal business process perspectiveTo be successful, which business processesshould we be good at?


Performance

measurement

Assessing progress inachieving the goals set

The balanced scorecard isan agreed set of measuresthat provide managers witha comprehensive, timelyview of an organisation’sperformance.

The aim is to helpmanagers to develop arobust set of performancemeasures that give acomprehensive view of theoverall performance of theorganisation, visibly linkedto the key strategies andpriorities of theorganisation.

Source: The measures of success – Developing a balanced scorecard to measure performance, Accounts Commission, 1998

42

Exhibit 37Examples of councils’ customer service targets

Specific and measurable High level, not easily measurable

City of Edinburgh Council

Extract from Delivering the Smart City April 2003

Key customer service strategic milestones/outputs

• 30% of council contact through email and internetby 2005.

• All appropriate councils services to be availableelectronically by 2005.

• Customer satisfaction ratings will have increasedby 60% by 2009.

Aberdeenshire Council (see Note below)

The council’s Strategic Plan 2003/07 aims include:“delivering first-class public services”; “we will makeservices easy to use by taking them close to thepeople”; “we will always look for new ways toimprove our services”.

The measures of success which underpin thecouncil’s aims include:

• “…to improve the speed and effectiveness ofcommunity services…”

• “…continually seek and take account of the viewsof the people of Aberdeenshire on our services.”

• “…review how we measure and manageperformance to provide a firm basis for improvingour services.”

Dundee City Council

Extract from Information and Communication Strategy 2000• Customer service centre process in place for 80%

of services by end of 2003.• Service given at first point of contact to 80% of

customer service centre calls.

Angus Council

Extract from Customer Care Aims and ObjectivesFebruary 2004

Our main aims are that we will:

• put customer care at the forefront of our servicedelivery

• build on our existing good practice• deliver customer services that are modern and

what people want.

Our main objectives are that we will:

• consult and involve customers• give our customers the best possible standard of

service• carry out our business in an open way• make what we do accessible to everyone• deal fairly with everyone• put things right when they go wrong.

North Ayrshire Council

Extract from Customer Contact Services Service Plan 2004/05

Key performance indicators – targets for 2004/05

• 87% of calls answered.• 95% customer satisfaction (measured by

quarterly survey).• 95% technical accuracy of information given to

customers (measured monthly, based on sampleof seven calls).

East Dunbartonshire Council

Extract from Customer Service Strategy March 2004

The customer service approach aims to ensure thatthe council is genuinely customer-focused in itsdecision-making, and in the planning and delivery ofits services. … (The) essential building-blocks of thecouncil’s customer service will be:

• clear lines of responsibility and accountability forall council activity

• core standards of service however and wherevercustomers/citizens make contact

• clear information about every service and activity• options for how customers/citizens interact and

contact the council• single points of contact wherever possible.

Note: Aberdeenshire Council’s service planning system involves ‘SMART’ target-setting and monitoring at operational level. However, there areno measures and targets linking the council’s broad aims for customer service to specific improvements to be implemented at the customerlevel. The council has committed itself to setting improved performance measures in the revision of its strategic plan due in 2005.




Exhibit 38Examples of targets for improving customer satisfaction

4.25 In 2004, the ScottishExecutive’s draft Customer Firststrategy

18stated that the ultimate

measure of success is the level ofcustomer satisfaction with publicservices. It proposed establishing atarget for customer satisfaction aspart of the MGF programme andnoted that some councils havealready set a baseline measure of95% customer satisfaction. FromAudit Scotland’s survey, sevencouncils have establishedperformance targets which includedsome measures of customersatisfaction; Exhibit 38 providesexamples of such targets forimproving customer satisfaction inthree of these councils.

4.26 Councils should also considerdeveloping existing call and contactcentre practices which allow themeasurement of ‘value’ and ‘failure’demand, such as North LanarkshireCouncil’s ‘e-Nquiry’ system:

• Value demand is what the callcentre exists to meet (eg, “I’mcalling to arrange…”)

• Failure demand is a repeat call orother evidence of waste (eg, “This is the third time I havecalled to arrange…”).

Distinguishing between value andfailure demand is a very powerfulmeasure of performance because itacts as an incentive to continuousimprovement (Exhibit 39).

Technology does not appear to

provide significant savings

4.27 As shown in Part 3, technologymay provide the tools to help deliverimprovements to customer servicebut it does not guarantee success ordemonstrate benefits. Wherecouncils are making use oftechnology, it is generally to supportwider changes. The setting up of acontact centre means that thetechnology is not the only changeaffecting performance, as the newculture established by the call centrealso has an influence. It cantherefore be difficult for councils toquantify the specific benefits,including savings, derived fromnew technology.

showing the contrast betweenspecific and measurable examplesand more high-level aims.

• In other councils, targets ormeasures were restricted to howthe council responded tocomplaints, which is important tomeasure but does not give a fullpicture of performance.

4.24 Establishing service standardsand performance targets forcustomer service is difficult becauseof the hundreds of services thatcouncils deliver. For example, in2002/03, East Renfrewshire Councildeveloped and monitored 279service standards. The council foundit had generally performed well inmeeting service standards, but therewas scope for improvingmeasurement by concentrating onfewer but essential indicators tomake it easier to assess how wellthe council had performed.

18 See paragraph 1.13. Also http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1067/0006391.pdf

Dundee City Council

Extract from Information and Communication Strategy 2000Target for overall performance management & planning arrangements – Improving trends in critical resultareas such as satisfaction with contacting the council by telephone, visit and electronic mail/website plus theoutcome of the contact.Satisfaction targets (for 2003): phone 90%; office 95%; web 90%.

Highland Council

Extract from Highland Council’s Service Point Network’s Operational Plan for 2004/05: What we will achieve: Improved customer satisfaction – 2% increase in customer satisfaction levels.

West Lothian Council

Extract from West Lothian Council’s housing and customer services service plan for 2004/05:Overall aims of the serviceAim: To provide high quality, locally based cost effective and customer-orientated services.Outcome measure: Increased per cent of measured customer satisfaction levels.

44

Exhibit 40Estimated and actual savings from customer service projects

Exhibit 39North Lanarkshire Council – using value and failure calls to measure service

North Lanarkshire Council has introduced a strong system for monitoring the effectiveness of its customer serviceactivity within North Lanarkshire Direct.

Getting the answer right first time is important for both customers and the council. The strength of the council’sapproach is that all enquiries to its contact centre, first-stop shops, housing sub-offices and main reception areasare recorded as ‘value’ or ‘failure’ calls, where failure represents a repeat call.

The council gathers information on the demand types being requested from its customers. The system can be used inany front-line service to provide an indicator on how that service is performing from a customer’s perspective.

The council’s philosophy is that failure calls are an indicator of waste, and its goal is to minimise the extent offailure calls and waste. In this context, the council’s definition of waste includes:

• anything that adds no value to the customer• too many meetings of working groups • badly designed IT• obtaining authorisation

The council ends waste by redesigning processes to avoid the need for repeat calls from customers, and byensuring that customer service are enabled to provide effective solutions to customers’ enquiries.

The results of the council’s monitoring show that 7% of calls are categorised as failure calls, which appears low.

• checking other people’s work• working with unreliable information• ‘fire fighting’.

Source: Audit Scotland, North Lanarkshire Council

Council, project and cost Projected savings Actual savings

East RenfrewshireCustomer First£1.7m

Potential savings of £0.8m a year gross (see Note). Not measured

North LanarkshireNorth Lanarkshire Direct £1.2m capital; £0.7m revenue (2000-2002)

Potential savings of £0.1m a year (6% of capitaloutlay of project)

Not measured

East LothianCRM system£0.9m

Reduced transaction costs Potential for redirecting savings made in serviceprovision

Not measured

Note: East Renfrewshire Council considered net savings were unlikely, with any savings contributing to more money spent on activities directly responding to customers.



4.36 Councils should improveperformance measurement.Councils should set key indicatorsthat take account of customerviews and experience, including:

• Specific targets for customersatisfaction. Councils coulddemonstrate a high degree ofcommitment to customer serviceby making targets for maintainingor improving customersatisfaction an integral part ofperformance measurement (as some already have). This would be consistent withthe Scottish Executive’s draftCustomer First strategypublished in November 2004.

• Any targets should distinguishclearly between satisfaction withhow a contact is handled andsatisfaction with outcomes. Thiswill improve accountability byallowing better comparisonsbetween councils and services.

• Targets for improving theeffectiveness of councilservices. Measures which canbe used to monitor end resultsare needed to make sure thatimprovements in access result inreal impact. Distinguishingbetween value and failuredemand is a very powerfulmeasure of performancebecause it acts as an incentive tocontinuous improvement.

4.28 Audit Scotland sought evidenceof how far benefits from significantcouncil investment in initiatives hadmatched forecast benefits in theoriginal business case for theinvestment. While there was someevidence that services had got better– persuasively so in some individualcases – measurable improvementdirectly attributable to investmentin new technology was scarce.

4.29 Although some business caseswere partly justified in relation toforecast cash or efficiency savingscouncils have not monitored what ifany savings have subsequently beenachieved. None of the sevencouncils that Audit Scotland visitedwhich had progressed a significantimprovement project with MGFsupport had completed any formalpost-implementation review of theproject (Exhibit 40).


4.30 Improving customer service isa challenge for councils because ofthe large and varied range of theirservices. Many councils recognisethe importance of good customerservice but are only at an early orintermediate stage of development,and few have comprehensivecustomer service strategies.

4.31 Most councils have not setcustomer service improvementtargets to measure achievements,yet too many targets may not helpassess how well councils servecustomers. A more valuableapproach may be NorthLanarkshire Council’s method ofmeasuring ‘value’ and ‘failure’demand which provides anincentive to service improvementby identifying causes of failure andso improve services to customers.

4.32 A deliberate programme tomanage customer serviceimprovements is good practiceand an important first step.Councils need to demonstratecommitment to the programme.Without strategic commitment,there is a risk that worthwhileinitiatives may fail and councils willnot be able to meet customers’reasonable service expectations.Councils should ask themselves ifthey are actively pursuing such aprogramme as being central toeffective service delivery.

4.33 The improvementprogramme should be based on aproperly researched understandingof how, when and why customerscontact councils. It should includean analysis of what barriers andopportunities exist for access andconsistent quality of service tocustomers across all mainactivities. All departments need tobe involved (see Part 2).

4.34 The customer serviceprogramme needs to be up-to-date. Responsibility for leadershipand delivery needs to be clearlyassigned. Measures of successneed to be established (seebelow) as the basis for monitoring.

4.35 Councils should considerestablishing project teams with an explicit remit to support thedevelopment of good customer service.

Exhibit 16: The number of customercontacts in five councils Page 22

Exhibit 17: Two out of threecustomers contact their councilby phone Page 23

Exhibit 18: Most customer enquiriesshould be easy to answer Page 23

Exhibit 19: Typical costs of customerservice improvement projects Page 25

Exhibit 20: East Renfrewshire’sCustomer First project Page 26

Exhibit 21: Access to council servicesthrough contact centres and first-stopshops Page 28

Exhibit 22: Customer satisfactionwith North Lanarkshire’s first-stopshops Page 29

Exhibit 23: North Lanarkshireresidents’ survey 1999 and 2002: key findings on satisfaction Page 29

Exhibit 24: Examples of extendedopening hours Page 30

Exhibit 25: Websites – selectedusage statistics Page 31

Exhibit 26: Examples of whenwebsite data has led toimprovements Page 31

Exhibit 27: SOCITM’s definition of acustomer service strategy Page 34

Exhibit 28: Status of customerservice strategy development inScottish councils Page 34

Exhibit 29: Examples of customerservice aims Page 35

Exhibit 30: Main incentives forimproving customer service Page 37

Exhibit 31: Main constraints forcustomer service development Page 37

Exhibit 32: Managing successfulprogrammes Page 38

Exhibit 33: SOCITM – Key elementsof a programme to deliver effectivecustomer service Page 39

Exhibit 34: North LanarkshireCouncil’s business change processPage 40

Exhibit 35: Example of serviceimprovement Page 41

Exhibit 36: The balanced scorecardPage 41

Exhibit 37: Examples of councils’customer service targets Page 42

Exhibit 38: Examples of targets forimproving customer satisfactionPage 43

Exhibit 39: North Lanarkshire Council– using value and failure calls tomeasure service Page 44

Exhibit 40: Estimated and actualsavings from customer serviceprojects Page 44

Exhibit 1: Examples of council serviceto customers Page 4

Exhibit 2: Modernising Government –key customer service commitmentsPage 4

Exhibit 3: Scottish Executive - 21stCentury Government Page 5

Exhibit 4: Key customer contact andservice initiatives by councils Page 5

Exhibit 5: Contact centres and first-stop shops – examples Page 6

Exhibit 6: Modernising GovernmentFund (MGF) rounds 1 and 2 – 2000and 2002 Page 7

Exhibit 7: Scottish Executive’sCustomer First funding October 2004Page 8

Exhibit 8: Council surveys ofcustomer opinions 2000 – 2004 Page 11

Exhibit 9: Satisfaction with councilservices – Scottish household surveyfindings Page 12

Exhibit 10: Good practice oncustomer consultation and opinionresearch Page 13

Exhibit 11: People like to know howopinion survey results are used Page 15

Exhibit 12: Outcome of mysterycustomer research in seven councilsPage 16

Exhibit 13: How well councilswelcome, listen to and communicatewith customers Page 17

Exhibit 14: Methods of monitoringcomplaints Page 19

Exhibit 15: Customer contacts inRenfrewshire Council Page 21

46

Appendix 1. List of exhibits

Improving customer service through better customer contact

Audit Scotland110 George StreetEdinburgh EH2 4LH

Telephone0131 477 1234Fax0131 477 4567

www.audit-scotland.gov.uk ISBN 1 904651 74 7

If you require this publication in an alternative format and/orlanguage, please contact us to discuss your needs. It is alsoavailable on our website: www.audit-scotland.gov.uk

Documents

Improving customer service through better customer contact